Blades of Light and Darkness
by fusion90XXXX
Summary: The god-king of Light, Balthazar, gave his life to stop the evil God of War, Astroth. Now in the present, a dark cult of worshippers are trying to resurrect Astroth with powerful dark relics. It's up to Cloud and his party to stop them. Cloud x Lightning
1. How It All Began

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Final Fantasy related in this story. They all belong to Square-Enix. This story is the only thing I own._

_So let's begin, shall we?_

* * *

Just everything has a beginning, it all has an end as well. Where, or rather, when this all began, millions of years had gone by. The universe had been around for a very long time, and the era of gods was at its greatest. Alongside Heaven and Hell, there existed three large worlds outside the gods realm, all nestled in-between the giant space between Heaven and Hell. The planets names were Gaia, Cocoon, and Pulse. The gods had created the fal'cie, machine and godlike entities formed around magical crystals, to rule over the worlds of Cocoon and Pulse. While the fal'cie did that, the gods would rule over Gaia. For many millenniums, it seemed like an eternal peace that would never be disturbed. However... that is until one day, the heart of Astroth, the God of War, Destruction, and Chaos, turned even more dark and malevolent than it ever had before. He was tired of being a lower god than Balthazar, who was the God of the Sky, Creation, and Light. Balthazar was also the first, most powerful, and ruler of the gods.

Astroth had gone into a berserk rage, and rampaged through Heaven, massacring all the other gods, and leaving a bloody deicide in his wake. He had finally reached Balthazar, and demanded Heaven's Throne. Of course, Balthazar refused, and the two engaged each other in an intense fight to the death. The City of Heaven lay in ruin because their fight's ferocity and intense force, ravaging the city in its entirety. Soon, the two gods were on their last legs, standing across from each other with serious wounds; their blood staining the ground around them. "Just die and give me the throne!" Astroth demanded.

"I would sooner die than let an insane monster like you rule over everything!" Balthazar spat in response.

"Then die!" Astroth shouted as he reached behind his back and pulled out three decorative knives. He threw the weapons at an extremely fast speed towards Balthazar. Since he was weakened at the moment, Balthazar wasn't able to stop or dodge them, and the knives went straight into his chest. Since he was a god, normal weapons had no effect on him, but these knives were different. Balthazar let out a cry of pain as electricity suddenly shot out from his chest, wracking his entire body with a burning pain. The source of the electricity were the weapons themselves. Balthazar almost fell to his knees, but quickly rested the tip of his sword against the ground to keep himself from falling .

Balthazar realized what the weapons were as he clutched his chest with is left hand. "Th-These are-!"

"Yes, holy blades," Astroth answered with a victorious smirk, "They're very effective weapons, even on a god as powerful as you." Astroth then turned and went off to Heaven't Throne to claim his prize.

"_I can't let him get away with this!" _Balthazar thought. With some struggle, Balthazar managed to forcefully pushed himself to his feet. He pushed his sword further into the ground to keep himself standing better. Balthazar quickly removed the holy blades from his chest, and quickly pulled something out from one of his pockets. It was the White Materia, his only option left to stop Astroth.

"_Please, Gaia, offer me your strength. He cannot be allowed to have that power. I must stop him no matter what, but I need your help to do it. So I beg of you, please! LEND ME YOUR POWER!"_

Balthazar mental pleas reached the White materia, and Gaia responded to Balthazar's call. The White Materia's color turned from white to green, and a bright light shined from the green orb as it floated into the air. A stream of green energy shot out from the materia and hit Astroth in the back.

"Wh-What the-!" Astroth exclaimed in shock as he turned to see the energy stream had stopped his movements. The energy stream began pulling Astroth towards the materia, as another stream of green energy came out and hit Balthazar's chest.

"I won't let you have Heaven's Throne, no matter what it takes!" Balthazar declared.

"What are you doing?-!" Astroth grunted as he was being pulled backwards, "What is this?-!"

"The end of.. all this." Balthazar answered as his body was surrounded by a white aura. He reached up and placed his pointer and middle fingers on the White Materia, which caused the materia to glow brighter. The energy being released increased,and Astroth was drawn to it even faster than before. Balthazar had realized at that point, that not just Astroth's, but his own power and existence were too dangerous because of how immensely strong they are.

"Let me go now, Balthazar!" Astroth roared.

"Not a chance, Balthazar retorted, "Now both of us will disappear from existence. For the sake of the new world that is to come!" Balthazar's entire body was now shining white.

"Damn you, Balthazar!" Astroth cursed, "I swear on my eternal existence; I will return! And I will rule EVERYTHING!"

Those were Astroth's last words of that time period, before his body was shrouded by white energy as well. The result soon after was a massive explosion of light, which illuminated the entire realm. When the light cleared, Astroth was gone, but Balthazar was on the ground, and in bad condition.

His body was now ghostly translucent due to the explosion. Slowly, but surely, his body began to disappear into a particle matter. A black orb covered by a violet flame floated near Balthazar. It was the soul of Astroth. Suddenly, two small oval shaped crystals landed on the ground in front of Balthazar. One of them was white and the other one was black. A white orb, covered with a darker white flame, exited out of Balthazar's dying body. It was his soul. The soul of light then flew up next to Astroth's soul. The two souls were hovering above the crystals, and began to shine brightly, as if they were reacting to the crystals.

The souls began to reshape themselves, until they formed two, single-edged, twin swords, which were also black and white like the crystals. The white sword's guard had a white angel wing on the both sides, with a small oval shaped hole in the middle of the guard that was the same size and shape of the crystals, and there was an opening in the bottom of the hilt. The other sword was the same, except for the wings and sword's color being black. Along with the swords and crystals, dropped a red and blue amulet.

With Balthazar's last ounce of strength, he used his magic on the items, and they were scattered all across the three worlds, never to be found and used for evil purposes. At least that's what he was hoping for. "Even if you do return somehow," Balthazar groaned, his life now at its end, "I'll make sure my descendant, and everyone else's descendants defeat you. They will find each other, unite, and stop you once and for all." With his time as a god-king over, Balthazar's body went limp. He completely disappeared into a large stream particles, which blew away into the wind. This act would always be remembered by the people of the planets. Balthazar would forever be known as the god-king who had given his life to save the universe.

* * *

The story of Balthazar and Astroth was known by many, and was passed down from generations as the time periods passed. The relative location of the two swords was known. The white sword, forged from Balthazar's soul, is called the Lark Blade. It's said to be sealed somewhere in the world of Cocoon. As for the black sword, which is forged from Astroth's soul, it is called the Nightingale blade, and it is said to be sealed somewhere in the Forgotten City, on Gaia. As for the crystals and the amulets, it wasn't known where they were. The four had disappeared from the worlds, and hadn't been seen since the time they were forged and scattered. That is until now.

Rumors have spread that the two crystals are actually sealed inside of two people. As to whom those people are, it hasn't been revealed yet. However, whoever those two people might be, they may as well consider themselves to be cursed. After all, the suffering they're about to experience may be too much for them to endure, or who knows, maybe too much for humanity to endure.

* * *

_And so it begins._

_But the beginning of what?_

_The beginning of a tomorrow?_

_Or the beginning of the end?_

_There's only one thing that can determine that…_

_The blades of possibility that cleave a path to the future._

* * *

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	2. Message Deliverer

**_Three Thousand Years Later: __Gaia_**

It was a normal day in the City of Edge, or just about as normal as it could get the way things were at present. All of Midgar's surviving residents resided in the city after Midgar was attacked and destroyed two years ago. One of these residents in particular, was the former mercenary, Cloud Strife. Ever since he and his friends defeated Sephiroth, and saved the world from the terror of Meteor, he and Tifa had started a new life, creating the Strife Delivery Service.

It was set up in the Seventh Heaven bar, which was where he lived with Tifa, Marlene, and Denzel. Marlene was Barret's adopted daughter, but since he was away on buisness, she was staying with Cloud and Tifa. Denzel is an orphan that Cloud and Tifa brought into their home after Cloud found him by his motorcycle one day, suffering from a disease many people around the world were. His parents were killed when his home at Sector 7 was destroyed because the plate was dropped. Cloud and Tifa, feeling it was their responsibility since the plate dropping was their, and AVALANCHE's fault, took Denzel into their family. Cloud promised he would find a cure for the disease to save Denzel.

The delivery job wasn't hard for Cloud to take care of. Since monsters were still roaming about, traveling was dangerous for common people. Cloud was an experienced fighter, so he was in charge of making the deliveries. His close friend and comrade, Squall Leonhart, would sometimes accompany him on deliveries. While they did that, Tifa was left in charge of the business side of the job.

However, things aren't going too well for Cloud at the moment. Right now, he is also suffering from the disease that plagues Denzel, as well as many others. The people around the world refer to the disease as, Geostigma, or Planet Scar Syndrome. When the Lifestream and Holy tried to push Meteor back from Gaia, some parts of the Lifestream were infected with Jenova cells.

After these events occurred, the disease spread to people all over the planet who came in contact with the tainted Lifestream, infecting a large number of people, with the number of infected still growing to this day. Symptoms of the sickness involve dark open sores appearing on part of the body with black ooze secreting from it. Although its severity seems to vary from person to person, it is invariably fatal. When someone is infected, they contract Jenova cells, and their immune system tries to fight off those cells. Unfortunately, the immune system can't destroy it, and it overcompensates for trying to fight off an incurable contamination. Therefore, anyone infected with Geostigma will experience debilitating weakness, as their bodies devote energy to fighting off Jenova's cells. This can lead to a sad, painful death, and Cloud, unfortunately, is no exception.

After he contracted the disease, he moved out of his and Tifa's home, and into the Sector 5 Church, where Aerith's flowers were still growing.

* * *

Cloud was currently in the desolate desert area outside of Edge city, where the ruins of Midgar resided. He sat on his custom motorcycle, Fenrir, while listening to a few messages on his phone left by his friends. After he finished listening to all the messages from his friends, he placed his phone in his pocket, and started up Fenrir's powerful engines.

The back tire ran against the ground, sending dust flying, before Cloud went speeding off back to Edge City. Little did Cloud know, that up on the hill, where the rusted and worn Buster Sword rested, stood a man in a black leather jacket with the hood covering his face. He watched as Cloud sped off, and pulled a cell phone from his pocket.

He speed-dialed a number and held the phone to his ear. "I've found him." the man said into the phone.

"Good, now proceed with the next step." a voice on the other line said.

"Got ya." the man replied as he hung up. The man then took out a Summon materia from his other pocket. He placed it on his right wrist, and the materia was absorbed into his arm, leaving a glowing red sphere that could be seen through his jacket sleeve. He pointed his hand towards Cloud and energy charged in his hand.

"Time for some entertainment." the man said as he fired a blast of energy from his hand. The red blast hit the ground in the direction Cloud was moving in. Cloud looked ahead as the blast of energy hit the ground, but kept moving forward. Several four legged monsters, as well as a giant two legged creature, materialized out of the ground.

They all charged at Cloud, ready to attack him. Cloud quickly opened Fenrir's six sword compartments, revealing Cloud's six auxiliary blades, which are all part of his Fusion Sword. Cloud quickly pulled out the Main Blade as the creatures attacked him. A four legged creature jumped at Cloud, only for Cloud to slice the creature in half.

He finished another two creatures as more came his way. The creatures running at him fired balls of energy from their mouths at Cloud. Cloud maneuvered Fenrir passed the oncoming barrage of energy blasts, while still keeping his speed up. Cloud looked to his left to see the large two-legged creature next to him. He was about to slash it, but suddenly felt a great pain surge throughout his left arm. He let out a loud grunt of pain as he looked at his left arm. He knew it was his Geostigma acting up again. "_Damn it, why now of all times?-!_" Cloud mentally cursed as he turned his attention back to the creature next to him. It quickly swung its large arm, and knocked the Main Blade out of Cloud's hand.

The sword went spinning and flipping in the air, stabbing into the ground behind Cloud. The creature then threw its fist at Cloud, but Cloud was faster, and he quickly reached for another sword. He chose the Hollow Blade, and stabbed the sword right into the creatures fist. The creature let out a loud cry of pain as Cloud ripped the sword out of its fist. He quickly jumped off of Fenrir and performed a fast spin slash with the Hollow Blade, slashing the creatures throat, killing it instantly.

Cloud landed back on Fenrir and accelerated faster. The creatures were now having a hard time keeping up with the motorcycle's speed. Unfortunately, Cloud suddenly felt another surge of pain from his Geostigma, and lost his focus and speed. The creatures quickly caught up to him and lunged at Cloud from all directions, ready to kill him. When they were only a second away from killing Cloud, they suddenly disappeared into clouds of black dust.

Cloud stopped his bike and looked around the area, before spying the man who summoned the creatures up on the hill where the Buster Sword was. The man smiled evilly at Cloud before quickly running away. Cloud wasn't sure what to make of the situation at all. He sheathed the Hollow Blade, and turned around to retrieve the Main Blade, before heading back to the city to try and see if he could figure something out. "_Who is that guy?_" was the question that crossed Cloud's mind a few times as he rode off.

* * *

"Okay, I think we've got his attention. The plan's proceeding accordingly." the man said into his cell phone.

"Good, now to do the same at the forest beneath Cocoon. Your other target's currently in that area. Head there immediately and make sure she gets the message to." the voice on the other line said before hanging up.

"Roger that." the man acknowledged as he rode off into the distance on his own motorcycle. A black portal opened in front of him and he sped into it. The portal closed behind him to prevent any pursuers.

* * *

At the forest beneath Cocoon, the same black portal opened and the man came speeding out of it on his motorcycle. He quickly came to a stop and observed the area. "So this is where she is." the man said as he got off his motorcycle and walked off to find his target.

* * *

Cloud had returned to Aerith's church and got off his bike before stepping inside. As he walked to where his stuff was, he laid his eyes upon the flowers in the front. Cloud had stopped before them and stared blankly at the flowers. A timber wolf had suddenly appeared next to Cloud. This wolf is a symbol of Cloud's loneliness and guilt for the deaths of two of his greatest friends, Aerith and Zack. But the wolf was also a symbol of Cloud's past failures.

"If only I was stronger." Cloud said as he remembered the deaths of Aerith and Zack.

* * *

**_Flashback: 3 Years Ago_**

Hundreds of Shinra troops were closing in on Cloud and Zack. Zack quickly set Cloud in a hiding spot and drew the Buster Sword, charging at the army with fierce determination. When the long, grueling battle ended, Zack had killed most of the troops, but the final few survivors had severely wounded him with their guns. They had found Cloud later, but seeing him in his Mako addicted state, the soldiers decided to leave him for dead. Rain began to fall on Zack as Cloud weakly crawled over to him. Cloud couldn't help show his grief and despair as he reached the Zack.

**_"Z-Zack." _**Cloud weakly muttered, his face filled with grief and shock.

Zack relaxed despite the intense pain coursing throughout him, and looked to Cloud with a warm smile. **_"For the... both of us." _**he began.

**_"Both... of us?" _**Cloud confusingly responded.

_"**That's right... you're gonna..." **_Zack began.

**_"You're gonna..." _**Cloud repeated.

Zack grabbed Cloud behind his head and rested Cloud's head on his bloodied chest, **_"Live." _**Zack finished as he held Cloud's head comradely.

**_"You'll be... my living legacy." _**Zack stated as his hand dropped to his side. Cloud raised his head to show some of Zack's blood got on the right side of his face and hair. Zack mustered what strength he could and held the Buster Sword's hilt to Cloud.

**_"My honor... my dreams... they're yours now." _**Zack confidently said. Cloud reluctantly grasped the Buster Sword with both hands and Zack gently pushes it towards Cloud.

**_"I'm... your living... legacy." _**Cloud acknowledged. With that, Zack died on the spot seconds later, but... he was smiling. Despite this, Cloud was overcome with sorrow and despair, and loudly screamed to the sky with all his despair.

* * *

**_Flashback: 2 Years Ago_**

Aerith was kneeling at an altar in the Forgotten City, praying to Gaia to release Holy and stop Meteor from hitting the planet. Sephiroth had then used his mind control on Cloud, and told him to kill Aerith, but Cloud refused, and resisted with all the will power he had. With Cloud unable to, Sephiroth did the deed himself, descended from above, impaling Aerith with his sword, the Masamune.

Aerith had died in Cloud's arms, and Cloud laid her body to rest in the waters of the Forgotten City.

**_End of Flashbacks_**

* * *

Cloud came back to reality and the wolf had disappeared. Cloud had noticed something in the middle of the flowerbed. It was a piece of paper which was odd because it wasn't there the last time Cloud looked at the flowers. Cloud walked over and picked up the piece of paper.

He turned it over and saw it had a message on it. The message read:

_"If you want to learn the truth, come to the forest beneath Cocoon. If you care for the safety of your friends and the world, I'd suggest you do it."_

Cloud had a feeling that this was a trap, but his instincts were telling him to go. "Well, this might be interesting." Cloud said as he left the church and headed off towards the forest beneath Cloud rode off towards the forest he stared up at the world of Cocoon floating over the planet.

It was heavily populated, and was actually a paradise for humanity. The technology and such that Cocoon had is a great benefit to humanity. Aircrafts are the only way someone could reach Cocoon, but whether Cocoon would let you in was totally up to them.

Cloud sped up and hurried off to the forest to meet whoever left him the message.

* * *

The mysterious man that had attacked Cloud before was still been wandering around the forest looking for his target for almost about half an hour. He finally looked off into the distance and saw something, or rather someone, walking through the forest. A girl with long strawberry-blonde hair that carried a gunblade stored on her in a black case. A confident smirk slithered onto the mans lips as he was ready to commence with the next step of his bosses plan. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a large red sword with a rapier style hilt.

"I finally found you… Lightning."

* * *

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	3. A Friend From The Past

Lightning was walking through the forest on her way back to Cocoon. She and her team from the Defense Force were sent from Cocoon to the planet to see how bad the damage from Meteor Fall was and if there was a chance of it effecting Cocoon. After careful looking, she confirmed Meteor Fall did have a large effect on the planet, but not enough to reach Cocoon. As she walked back to where her team was posted, Lightning looked around the forest and how beautiful it was. It is one of the few things on the planet that wasn't negatively affected from the fall of Meteor.

Lightning suddenly sensed a presence behind her, and could feel a strong power from it. She slowly brought her hand to the handle of her gunblade, Blaze Edge, and gripped the handle. She slowly drew the weapon as the presence was getting even stronger and closer. Lightning scanned the area as the power was coming from all over.

She quickly drew the weapon and changed it into its sword mode before turning around, and blocking the attack of the mystery guest. His sword had a long red blade and his face was shrouded by the black jacket he wore. "Who are you?" Lightning asked.

The man didn't respond and used force to push Lightning back. She skidded to a stop, only to see the man had suddenly vanished. Her instincts told her he was behind her. Lightning quickly swung her sword around and blocked the surprise attack from the man. "You're good." the man said.

"I have more important things to do, get lost!" Lightning said as she pushed the man back and charged. The man stopped himself to see Lightning charge at him. She brought her sword down, but the man deflected it and swung horizontally only for Lighting to do a backflip over the attack.

She switched Blaze Edge into its gun mode and fired a few shots at him. The man retaliated against Lighting's bullets with fire magic. The fire ball destroyed the bullets and continued flying towards Lightning. She quickly leaped into the air and out of the way of the blast. The fire spell crashed into the ground and caused a large explosion. Lightning covered her eyes from the light and wind of the explosion. She slightly opened them a second later to see the man jump into the air towards her.

He swung downwards, but Lightning deflected the attack and slashed twice only for the man to deflected the attacks. The two continued deflecting each others attacks, and swinging their swords at each other while they were in mid air. Sparks were sent flying like crazy with the many times the edges of their swords made contact.

Lightning needed to hurry up, so she decided to try and end the fight quickly. She snapped her fingers and she rose into the air as her body was surrounded by blue electricity. "Not bad." the man said in response. He brought his sword up and moved his hand across the surface. Magical runes appeared on the blades length before the entire blade was covered by fiery red magic energy.

Lightning quickly flew towards the man as he charged towards her. Both slashed at each other, and when the blades of their swords made contact with each other, a large ripple of energy was the result. The two's sword's were scrapping against each others edges as their wielders stared at each other. "Is that the best you've got?" the man asked.

"Not even close." Lightning replied as the two continued fighting.

* * *

Cloud was riding on Fenrir towards the forest beneath Cocoon. He was really hoping to get some answers to what was going on. If it was a trap, he'd just slash his way out of it. However, as he was riding something did feel wrong to Cloud about where he was. He felt as if someone was watching him, tracking him. Unfortunately for Cloud, he was right.

He could hear the sounds of other motorcycles besides his behind him. He was being tailed by two guys wearing black with silver hair. They both quickly rode up next to Cloud. "Where's mother?!" Loz, the one on Cloud's left asked.

"We know you hid her brother!" Yazoo, the one on Cloud's right added in.

"Mother? Hid her? Brother? What the hell are you guys talking about?" Cloud asked. Yazoo pulled out one of his guns and fired close range shots at Cloud which were somewhat difficult for him to avoid. Cloud quickly accelerated ahead of the two strangers to get some distance.

Yazoo continued firing shots at Cloud which he maneuvered through with ease. He opened the six sword slots and chose to use the Hollow Blade. Cloud spun Fenrir around and rode it backwards. He deflected incoming bullets with the sword as they came at him. He was too focused on Yazoo's bullet's to see Loz sneak up from the side.

He swung his Dual Hound gauntlet at Cloud who dodged it before pushing Loz back. Cloud continued accelerating since he didn't have the time for interferences. Yazoo suddenly appeared next to him and fired a shot at Cloud. He moved his head to dodge it and the bullet was literally only a centimeter from Cloud's face.

Cloud swung at Yazoo who dodged the blade and shot at Cloud who dodged it. Cloud drew the Main Blade from Fenrir and used Blade Beam, sending a blue energy blade at the two. When it was close enough, Cloud sent another Blade Beam at the first. When they made contact, a large explosion occurred.

The explosion blinded Yazoo and Loz for eight seconds. When they opened their eyes, Cloud had disappeared. "Find him!" Yazoo said as the two rode off in pursuit of Cloud.

Cloud had looked behind him as he continued riding through the forest. He saw that the two strangers weren't behind him so he stopped Fenrir. He saw he was close to the area he was supposed to meet the person who left him the message, so he got off Fenrir and combined all the Fusion swords into the First Tsurugi sword.

He carried the large buster sword in his hand as he walked to the destination point. As we walked, he could feel what appeared to be ripples of energy being sent throughout the entire area. Cloud saw it was near the destination point and he quickly sprinted off to where the energies were coming from.

* * *

Lightning and the mystery man were still at a stalemate, with neither showing a sign of tiredness or giving up. Lightning quickly fired three shots at the man who deflected them with his enhanced sword with no difficulty at all. "You're out of your league." the man said as he somehow appeared in front of Lightning in the blink of an eye.

He swung up which made Lightning block the attack, though the force sent her high into the air. He quickly flew up after her and slashed at her. Lightning was barely able to block the strike, though the force sent her to the ground. Just as she landed on her feet, the electricity barrier around her disappeared.

Lightning quickly snapped her fingers to bring up the electricity barrier again, but all she got was a small blue spark. She looked up to see the man floating above her. He brought his hand up and it was surrounded by a bright orange energy which then formed into a large fireball. He threw the ball which was heading straight for Lightning at fast speeds, and she wouldn't have time to avoid it.

When the ball got really close to her it was suddenly sliced through and destroyed. The man and Lightning gasped at what just happened. They looked to see a man clad in black with spiky blonde hair standing in front of Lightning while holding a large buster sword.

Cloud jumped up and slashed down though the man blocked the strike with ease. "Who are you?" Cloud asked.

"You don't remember me? I guess you just have bad memory." the man responded as he pushed Cloud back and began slashing rapidly forcing Cloud to go on the defensive. He continually blocked attacks while trying to find and opening. When the man slashed down, Cloud parried the strike before spinning the opposite way and swinging horizontally.

The man flew over the strike even high into the air. Cloud quickly flew up after him and was about to slash again, but the pain form his Geostigma stopped him from swinging. The man took advantage of the distraction and swung his sword down on Cloud.

Lightning quickly jumped up and blocked the strike, protecting Cloud. She pushed the man back and grabbed Cloud as they floated down to the ground. When they landed, Lightning looked at Cloud to see he was holding his left arm in pain. She lightly gasped when she saw black liquid secreting from his sleeve.

"You have the Stigma."

The man floated down and landed in front of the pair. Cloud felt the pain stop and stood up, readying his sword along with Lightning. The man simply stood there, not even lifting his sword. "Yeah, you're Cloud alright." the man said as his sword disappeared in a crimson flame, indicating he dismissed it and he was done fighting.

"Who are you?" Cloud asked the man once again.

"Come on Cloud, did you seriously forget me?" the man as he removed his black jacket. Cloud gasped when he saw the identity of the man who attacked him before.

N-No way, Genesis?"

"Figured that'd be your first reaction. Sorry about earlier, had to get your attention" Genesis said.

"Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" Cloud asked.

I couldn't. After Sephiroth disappeared and Zack and Angeal died, I sealed myself away until the planet was in trouble again. So you can probably guess why I'm here." Genesis answered.

"So what's going on here? Cloud asked, curious to the crazy things that were happening today.

"Sorry, we'll have to talk somewhere else. This forest isn't very safe at the moment. Oh and you, you're coming with us too." Genesis said as he turned his attention to Lightning.

"Sorry, but I've got more important things to do. What you guys do is of no concern to me, so stay out of my way if you know what's good for you." Lightning responded as she sheathed Blaze Edge in its sheath and began walking away. Genesis only sighed at her remark.

"I was really hoping it wouldn't come to this." Genesis said in a disappointed voice. Lightning turned around to see Genesis suddenly appeared in front of her. He punched Lightning in the stomach and knocked her unconscious. He caught Lightning's falling body and held her up.

"Did you have to be so rough?" Cloud asked.

"It was only way to get her to come along Cloud. Let's get going before any unwanted guests show up." Genesis said.

Cloud nodded and got back to Fenrir and Genesis got back to his motorcycle. They both quickly rode off with the unconscious Lightning on Cloud's motorcycle.

"So where are we supposed to go?" Cloud asked.

"Just follow me." Genesis answered as the two accelerated off into the distance. As they rode, Cloud looked behind him and stared at the unconscious Lightning.

"_She's really beautiful_." Cloud thought as he accelerated after Genesis.

___

* * *

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	4. Surprise Attack

Cloud and Genesis continued riding on their motorcycles through the forest. Cloud saw the area they were in was very peaceful and calm. Cloud could see a building at the end of the cliff area they were riding near which was actually Healin Lodge. As they rode to the lodge, Cloud couldn't help but glance back at the unconscious Lightning behind him.

Cloud wasn't sure what it was but he felt a strange kind of power coming from her body. It was like a power on par with his, or maybe even beyond that. Other than that, Cloud found her very intriguing. For someone to have the power to fight on the same level as Genesis was pretty impressive. Not to mention she was very beautiful.

The two finally reached the building and got off there motorcycles, before heading up the steps to the top. Cloud climbed up the many steps with Genesis carrying Lightning behind him. When Cloud got to and opened the door, he quickly unsheathed the Main Blade from behind him. He swung the sword which made contact with Reno's Electro-Mag rod, which he had swung as well.

Reno backed off before running at Cloud and swinging again, but Cloud simply side stepped causing Reno to stumble outside. Cloud and Genesis quickly entered the building as Reno turned around. He quickly ran towards the door, but Cloud shut the door behind him. "Okay so you're good." Reno said from outside. Cloud turned and locked the door behind him as Genesis laid Lightning on the floor as she began to stir.

She slowly opened her eyes and groaned as she got up slowly. When her eyes were fully open, she saw she was in a new place from before. She turned to see Cloud and Genesis behind her. Lightning quickly stood up pulled out her sword and placed the edge at Genesis's throat. "Where am I?! What is this place?!" Lightning shouted.

"The Healin lodge." Genesis answered.

Lightning still kept her blade close to Genesis's throat. "Tell me Genesis, what's going on here and how do you know what it is?" Cloud asked.

"I know what's going on from my boss." Genesis answered.

"And who would that be?" Lightning asked.

"That would be me." a voice said from behind Lightning. A man in a wheelchair came out of the shadows into the open with Rude next to him. He was completely covered by a white blanket.

"It's been a while, hasn't it Cloud?" the man said. Cloud quickly recognized the voice.

"Rufus Shinra?" Cloud said in a somewhat surprised tone as he had a flashback of when the Shinra building was attacked by the WEAPON's and Rufus was caught in it.

"Yes, as you can see I'm still alive." Rufus replied.

"Do I feel sorry for you." Cloud said to Rude who said nothing back.

"Good work on bringing both of them here Genesis." Rufus said.

"No problem." Genesis replied.

"So why did you bring us here?" Lightning asked while taking her sword away from Genesis' neck.

"Because I need help. From both of you." Rufus replied.

"I have something to do. I don't have time for interferences." Lightning replied.

"I'm just a delivery boy now." Cloud added in.

"What I have to say is very important for both of you to know." Rufus assured.

"Fine. Say what you want to say." Cloud replied.

"Well you see it all started about three thousand years ago. During the time of the gods there was one in particular whose malice and blood lust was massive. His name was Astroth. He was the god of war and destruction. It was only through the god-king Balthazar's sacrifice that he was able to be stopped. Their souls were turned into swords, their hearts into amulets, and their bodies into crystals. The swords are known as the Lark Blade and the Nightingale Blade."

"So what does that have to do with what's happening?" Cloud asked confused.

"Because someone, and we're not sure who yet, is looking for those six sacred objects to resurrect Astroth. They think that if they resurrect him, then he'll have to be their servant in return. They'll only be betrayed and Astroth will use his power to rule the world, maybe even the whole universe, but I'm thinking they might also be trying to get the Heaven Blade and the Hell Blade for their own purposes."

"What are they?" Lightning asked.

"If the crystals and the amulets are put together with the two swords in a certain order, it will create either the Heaven, or Hell Blade. Rumor has it that whoever wields them will gain unlimited power. That's why we need your assistance Cloud. You're an ex-SOLDIER, we need someone with your skills." Rufus said.

"That was just something I made up in my head." Cloud replied.

"But Cloud, think about what's at stake here. Every living thing will be in grave danger." Rufus said trying to change Cloud's mind.

"I don't have the right to protect anything anymore." Cloud replied as he turned around and opened the door.

"Come on Cloud think about it. If we can stop these guys then together we can rebuild Shinra." Reno said.

"Not interested." Cloud said with a hint of anger as he walked out the door.

"Reno!" Rufus, Rude and Genesis shouted seeing him mess things up.

"Maybe I should've rephrased that" Reno said.

* * *

Loz and Yazoo returned to Kadaj after not being able to find Cloud. "We couldn't find him anywhere." Loz said.

"We're gonna have to find a way to lure him out." Yazoo suggested.

Kadaj knew they were right and was thinking of a way to do that. The answer quickly hit him. "If we're gonna draw him out, we'll have to do it in the right way. First, you two go to the city and bring together all the infected children. Then Loz, go to brothers place and see if Mother's there." Kadaj said.

"Right." the two said as they quickly headed off to the city.

* * *

Tifa was walking up the stairs of her house to Denzel's room. When she peered in she saw Marlene tending to the infected Denzel. Denzel was groaning in pain from his Geostigma. It seemed to get worse everyday. "_Please come home soon Cloud_." Tifa thought as she left.

* * *

Cloud was riding back through the forest on Fenrir. "_Why in the world would I want to restore something like Shinra__?_" thought Cloud as he rode faster. He heard two more motorcycles behind him and looked back. He was relieved to see it was Squall and Tidus and not the two silver haired men from before.

The two rode up next to Cloud. "Glad to see you're doing well." Squall said.

"We haven't seen you in a while." Tidus added in.

"Let's just say things hsve been crazy." Cloud replied to the two.

"Come on, let's get back." Tidus said as the three increased their speed back towards Edge.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lightning was riding through the forest on a motorcycle Genesis let her have. She was heading back to where she was originally going. She needed to meet her team and report back to Cocoon as soon as she could. She was sure Serah was getting worried about her. Suddenly the sky turned dark and she skidded her motorcycle to a stop.

"Now what?" Lightning said in annoyance of enough interferences for one day. Suddenly a man appeared in front of her. He was dressed in black with a leather black jacket over his clothes and had brown hair that went to the bottom of his neck with sunglasses. He drew a broadsword from his coat and pointed it at Lightning.

"Hand over the crystal!" the man demanded.

"What crystal?" Lightning asked in confusion of what he meant.

The man didn't answer and charged at Lightning. She quickly drew Blaze Edge and jumped off her motorcycle. The man swung his sword and Lightning deflected the attack. She swung Blaze Edge at him, but he dodged the attack which just barely missed his head. The man brought his sword around towards Lightning, but she quickly jumped over the strike and landed a kick to the mans head.

The man stumbled before swinging his sword at Lightning again. Lightning swung her sword up hard and knocked the sword out of the mans hand. Lightning quickly swung her leg behind the mans legs and tripped him. When he hit the ground, Lightning quickly converted Blaze Edge into its gun mode and pointed the barrel at the mans face.

"Our master Astroth will return, and destroy you all." the man said.

"In your dreams." Lightning coldly said as she pulled the trigger.

* * *

Cloud, Squall, and Tidus continued riding through the forest while looking up at the dark skies. "Wonder if it's gonna rain?" Tidus said in wonder while watching the dark clouds move in.

"I don't think those are rain clouds." Squall replied as he also watched the clouds.

"_Something's not right here._" Cloud thought as he also watched the clouds with Squall and Tidus.

Suddenly, the three heard a gunshot go off, and they quickly skidded to a stop. "What was that?!" an alarmed Tidus said as he looked around for the source.

"A gunshot." Squall answered.

"It came from over there." Cloud said as he rode off in the direction of the gunshot.

"Hey Cloud, wait up!" Tidus shouted after him as he and Squall went after Cloud.

* * *

Lightning stood over the dead body of the man that attacked her. Suddenly his body was enveloped by green energy streams before it evaporated entirely. Lightning thought it was over, but she was wrong. Black portals suddenly opened up all around Lightning and men that looked exactly like the one she just defeated appeared out of them.

Lightning readied her sword when suddenly she heard the sounds of motorcycles approaching. She turned around to see Cloud, Squall, and Tidus stop their motorcycles behind her while running over a few of the mysterious men. The three noticed the large army of black clad men in front of Lightning who all looked the same.

"I think it's time for some fun." Tidus said as he got off his motorcycle and drew his Brotherhood sword from his motorcycles custom sheath compartment.

"Guess it can't be avoided." Squall said as he drew Revolver from his motorcycles custom sheath compartment. Cloud got off Fenrir and drew both of the Back Blades. The three walked up next to Lightning and readied their swords. The black clad men drew their identical broadswords before charging at the four.

The four attacked and began slicing through the enemies one after another. One slashed at Cloud who deflected the strike, knocking him off balance. Squall swung his sword and sliced the man down. Squall saw two more coming and used a Fire spell on both to kill them.

Tidus stabbed Brotherhood into one of the men's chests, before ripping it out and slashing another though his stomach. He saw one coming at him out of the corner of his eye so he swung his leg around and landed a powerful kick to the mans head.

Lightning slashed though one man before stabbing Blaze Edge straight through another ones chest. She quickly ripped it out before dodging slashes coming from the men. One pulled a gun out of his coat and fired shots at Lightning. She did a series of backflips and the incoming bullets hit other men.

Lightning did a larger backflip and she was sent high into the air. While she was upside down she switched her sword to its gun mode and fired shots at the men while upside down which took them down in an instant. When she landed she was quickly surrounded by men. She swung her leg around and tripped all of them at once.

Lightning jumped back as Tidus cast a thunder spell, incinerating all the men to ash. Cloud slashed through men quickly using the two Back Blades. He saw more coming, so Cloud quickly threw one of the Back Blades into the air before drawing the Main Blade from behind him.

He connected the other Back Blade on the Main Blade before catching the other Back Blade and connecting it to the Main Blade. Cloud did a large flip over the enemies before landing in front of Fenrir. He quickly grabbed the Hollow Blade and attached it to the Main Blade. While not the complete Fusion Sword, it was pretty close.

Cloud ran over and slashed through three men before he used Blade Beam. The blast tore through the enemies as the others continued slashing through more. There were only two left and knowing that they would die if they fought, they ran away.

Lightning and Cloud jumped into the air after them. They brought their swords down and sliced the two down. "Thanks for the help." Lightning said as she turned to Cloud.

"No problem." Cloud said back.

"It's Cloud right?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, and you're Lightning, right" Cloud asked.

"Just call me Light." Lightning answered.

"Okay. So why we're these guys attacking you, and why do they look the same?" Cloud asked as he watched all the fallen enemies evaporate into green energy streams.

"Who knows. Probably should've left at least one of them alive. But the first one I killed before those other ones showed up said something about Astroth being his master, and me having some crystal." Lightning said.

"Maybe he meant one of the two crystals that Astroth and Balthazar's bodies turned into. You don't really have one of them on you do you?" Cloud asked as he turned to Lightning.

"No, but I don't understand why he thought I did." Lightning said as she thought about it.

"Yeah. Well, why don't you come back with us. I don't think you'll be able to get to Cocoon in this weather." Cloud said looking up at the dark sky, and sensing rain coming.

"Thank you." Lightning said accepting Clouds offer. She, Cloud, Squall, and Tidus all rode off back to the city. Thunder began booming as lightning flashed across the sky and small drops of water began falling from the sky. As they rode off, they didn't realize there was a man shrouded in a brown cloak behind them.

"Everything is now falling into place. But the real thing has yet to begin." the cloaked man said as he disappeared from the spot where he was standing.

* * *

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	5. A Dream, or a Vision?

_A/N: Squall has his Kingdom Hearts II appearance in here. If you don't know what it looks like then I suggest going onto the Kingdom Hearts wiki and looking up Leon._

_Now let's get on to the chapter._

___

* * *

_Cloud lead Lightning, Tidus, and Squall back to the 7th Heaven bar as the rain began to pour. The four stopped their motorcycles in front of the bar. Lightning admired the place and thought it looked and sounded unique, despite the fact that it was in a city like Edge. While it wasn't the fanciest place she'd seen in her life, it was pretty nice looking. Cloud brought the three inside and shut the door behind them.

"Nice place." Lightning as she looked around the inside.

"Come on, I'll take you to your room." Cloud said as he silently walked up the stairs with Lightning following him.

"Well, I think I'll take a nice long nap." Tidus yawned as he walked over and rested Brotherhood against the wall before he plopped down onto the sofa. He was instantly asleep within a few seconds.

"Whatever." was Squall's response as he rested Revolver against the wall and went over to sleep on the other sofa. Cloud and Lightning reached the upstairs and walked down the hallway. Cloud peered in one room to see Marlene and Denzel asleep. He looked into the other room to see Tifa asleep as well.

"Come on." Cloud whispered as he lightly and quietly shut the door to Tifa's room. Lightning followed him quietly to the end of the hall where there were two more doors. Cloud opened the door for Lightning and she walked in to see the room looked pretty decent even though it appeared that no one was using it at the moment. It had a bed in the back corner that looked very clean.

"Is this good enough for you?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah." Lightning answered.

"I'll be in the room across from yours. Just let me know if you need anything." Cloud said as he left the room and shut the door behind him. Lightning walked over to the bed and removed her sheathed Blaze Edge from behind her and rested it against the wall before sitting on the edge of the bed.

She continued to think about the strange men who attacked her and the crystal they mentioned. She just didn't understand any of what happened, but she didn't think now would be the time to worry about it. She laid down on the bed and fell asleep within a seconds.

* * *

Five hours later, Lightning started having a nightmare, but to her it seemed like a vision of some sort. Lightning saw herself standing in the midst of a burning town with bright, violent fires scorching everywhere. She felt a strong and dark power behind her. She quickly turned around to see something very strange.

In front of her stood a man clad in black, with metal shoulder guards, and long silver hair. In his left hand was a sword and the blade of the weapon was very long. He raised his head and stared into Lightning's eyes with his green cat-like eyes. As he stared into her eyes, Lightning felt something she'd not felt in a long time… fear.

The man turned around and walked away through the flames. His entire figure disappeared through the wall of fire. Lightning was confused, but then suddenly she felt a painful feeling in her stomach. She clutched her stomach in pain and looked to see what the problem was.

She saw a bright white light glowing inside of her stomach. However, she then suddenly felt a sharp pain in her upper right back. Lightning fell to her knees from the intensity of the pain. She groaned as the pain started to grow even larger. A large lump suddenly appeared on the upper right part of her back. Lightning let out a loud cry of pain as the lump got even larger. Suddenly, a large white feathered wing burst from her back. Lightning fell onto the ground on her side from both the pain from the wing sprouting and the pain in her stomach which came back again.

Darkness started to engulf the entire area and seemed to be drawn to Lightning's body. After engulfing everything, Lightning could only lie there in the pitch darkness while clutching her stomach in pain. Suddenly, an image of a dark figure wearing armor with spikes and horns and with glowing red eyes appeared in her head. "_Soon you'll be mine._" is what the figure said to Lightning before he disappeared from Lightning's mind.

Monstrous beings of darkness materialized out of the darkness surrounding Lightning. They drew close to her and raised their claws, ready to strike. Suddenly a bright white light shot forth from Lightning and pierced through the creatures. They all let out screeches of pain as their bodies disintegrated.

The light emitting from Lightning's body was spreading out further, and was destroying the darkness surrounding her. Now Lightning was in a world of bright white light. She slowly opened her eyes to take a look at her new surroundings. She noticed a pair of legs in front of her. Lightning sat up and looked up to see a beautiful woman standing before her wearing a knee length white dress, and royal jewlery. The strange thing was, the woman looked almost exactly like Lightning. The notable differences in her appearence was that she had longer hair that went down to the middle of her back and she had two white feathered wings instead of one like Lightning.

The woman extended her hand out to Lightning. Lightning, at first hesitant, reached out and took the womans hand. The instant their hands connected, a bright light shined from their hands which blinded Lightning. "It's within you." Lightning heard the woman say to her before the light faded.

* * *

With that her dream ended and Lightning awoke with a jolt. She felt her forehead to feel a lot of sweat dripping down it. She wiped the sweat away as she got up. "What was that?" Lightning asked herself, not being able to comprehend what she just dreamt.

"It was a dream, but it felt so real." Lightning said. She looked at her back to see there was no wing there.

"Yeah, just a wierd dream." Lightning said as she got up off the bed. She picked up her sheathed Blaze Edge and slung it behind her before she left the room. She walked over to Cloud's room to see he wasn't in his bed, meaning he was already awake. Lightning walked down the hallway and the stairs.

When she reached the bottom she saw Squall and Tidus were still asleep on the couches. She quietly walked to the door and opened it before walking outside. When she was outside, she saw Cloud leaning on his motorcycle. "Were you waiting for me?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, I figured I'd take you to Cocoon since I've been a bother to you. It's the least I can do for you Lightning." Cloud answered.

"No Cloud, I think I'll stay here for a bit." Lightning said.

"But your mission."

"Don't worry. The team pulled back and left a ship for me to get back in. I've got plenty of time. Besides, I've always wondered what life here could be like. Now's my chance to see it." Lighting answered.

"Well, it's your call." Cloud responded. Cloud looked into Lightning's eyes and could see that there obviously was something bothering her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked.

"N-No, nothing's wrong." Lightning responded, hoping Cloud would drop the subject.

"Are you sure? You look like something's bugging you." Cloud said.

"No really I'm fine." Lightning responded. Cloud could tell she didn't want to talk about what was obviously bothering her, so he decided to drop the subject.

"If you say so." Cloud said as he got on Fenrir.

"Are you going somewhere?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah, I'm heading into the city. Wanna join me?" Cloud asked.

"Sure." was Lightning's answer as she got on her motorcycle as well, and the two sped off towards the what the two didn't, know that Loz and Yazoo were in the city at the moment.

* * *

The two were rounding up the kids in the city, telling them that they had a cure for Geostigma and would give it to them if they came along with them.

The children who had been told this quickly agreed to the offer. Their parents abandoned them so they wouldn't have to worry about their objection to this offer. Plus, once they were cured their parents might bring them back into their home. One by one, children were gathered into the truck Yazoo and Loz were using as the offer influenced them.

"Man they're really piling up." Loz said as he saw the large number of children they influenced.

"Loz, go to the church brother stays at and see if mother's there. I'll see if I can get a few more." Yazoo said.

"Sure thing." Loz said in return as he got onto his motorcycle and went off to the church while Yazoo went off to find more children.

* * *

Denzel was walking around the city while Tifa and Marlene went off to the church where Cloud had been staying for a while. Tifa opened the church doors and Marlene ran inside while Tifa followed behind her. Marlene was in awe at the sight of the flowers. She and Tifa then looked to the right to see Cloud's things on the floor.

Marlene noticed a bandage wrap on a white box. Marlene picked it up and saw a black stain on it. "It's just like Denzel. Is Cloud sick?" Marlene asked. The obvious proof left Tifa confused.

"Why didn't he say something?" she said as she wondered why.

"Did Cloud leave because he's sick?" Marlene asked.

"I think… he wants to fight it alone,"

"Fight?"

"No. I don't think he will." Tifa said with doubt in her voice.

"Tifa?" Marlene said as she was left confused.

"Well, why don't we wait here until he gets back? We can give him a good lecture." Tifa suggested.

"Uh huh!" agreed Marlene with a happy face. She couldn't wait to see Cloud again.

* * *

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	6. Taken

Tifa and Marlene waited patiently in the church for Cloud to return. Suddenly the doors opened up and a figure walked in. Marlene turned around happily and ran to the door thinking it was Cloud. Tifa thought it was Cloud as well, but when she got a look at the person she saw it wasn't Cloud. She quickly grabbed Marlene and held her back.

The person who entered was wearing all black and he had silver hair with a strange silver spiked gauntlet on his left forearm. Tifa stood there while holding Marlene. "Wanna play?" Loz said as he stopped and held his hand out. Tifa didn't respond.

"I guess that's a no." Loz said.

"Where's Mother?" he asked as he continued walking towards them, but stopped when he noticed the flowerbed and the many flowers adorning it. He got a disgusting feeling from looking at the flowers. "Gross."

Tifa was confused and was curious as to who the man was. She had a feeling it had something to do with Cloud. "Hey, where's Mother?" Loz asked again.

"There's no one here!" was Tifa's response.

"Fine, then play with me." Loz said back to Tifa.

Marlene quickly ran and hid behind a pillar seeing that a fight was going to ensue. Tifa pulled out her black gloves from behind her and put them on her hands before getting into her battle stance. "Heh, this'll be fun." Loz said with a smile as too got into his battle stance. Now the two were ready to go at each other.

* * *

Squall had woken up from his good nights sleep to see Tidus spread out all over the other couch and snoring loudly. Squall sighed in annoyance as he got up and stretched his arms out. Suddenly, he sensed an unfamiliar presence behind him. Squall quickly grabbed Revolver and swung the sword around at the uninvited guest.

The blade was stopped instantly as it collided with a blue energy barrier. The person who brought up the energy barrier was shrouded in a brown cloak. "Who are you?" Squall asked.

"An ally." is how the person replied.

"How am I supposed to believe that?"

"Because I'm here to help Cloud and Lightning." the person answered.

"How do you know their names?" Squall asked, curious since he'd never met the person before, and Cloud never mentioned anything about him.

"That isn't important right now. Where are they now?" the person asked

"I don't know, maybe they went out into the city or something." was Squall's answer.

"Then I guess I'll have to wait until they return." the cloaked person said as he lowered the energy barrier and sat on the couch Squall slept on as Squall lowered his sword.

"So what, do you know them from the past or something?" Squall asked.

"Well, let's just say that from a distance, I've been keeping them two of them safe from harm, and watching over them without them knowing it." the person answered.

"Why do that?" Squall asked.

"You'll find out soon enough." the person responded.

Squall wasn't sure if the cloaked person was trustworthy. Something about their story just sounded kind of funny. If they were helping Cloud and from a distance, then surely he, or one of the others would've known about it, or at least noticed it. "_Well Cloud, I hope you can shine some light on this._" Squall thought as he waited for the two to come back.

* * *

Cloud and Lightning were riding through the city at high speeds. They were skilled drivers so they didn't have to worry much about crashing. As they sped though the streets, Lightning felt very peaceful for some reason. Something about the wind just seemed to be able to take people's minds off their worries, and it was working for her. Lightning didn't want to think about the vision any more since it was a little much for her to take. "Hey Cloud, do you know a guy named Sephiroth?"

Cloud gasped when he heard the mans name spoken. "How do you know about him?" Cloud asked with much curiosity.

"I heard it from somewhere." Lightning responded, not being entirely honest with Cloud.

"Yeah, he's the guy who tried to use Meteor on the planet two years ago. The others and I managed to stop him in time though, but it also cost us one of our friends." Cloud said.

"Were they important to you?"

"Yeah, she was kind of like another mother to me, but Sephiroth took her and my real mother away from me. I don't think I've ever hated anyone as much as I hate him." Cloud said with some anger in his voice.

"Sorry for bringing it up." Lightning said.

"No, forget it" Cloud responded, calming down. The two then heard the sound of another motorcycle behind them. The two looked back to see Genesis speeding towards them. Genesis quickly pulled up next to Cloud with a bit of a worried look on his face.

"What's wrong Genesis?" Cloud asked.

"We've got a problem Cloud. Kadaj and his gang have been kidnapping children all over the city, telling them that they have the cure for Geostigma. I think they're just going to use them for whatever they're planning" Genesis said.

"Kadaj?" Cloud asked, not recognizing the name.

"He's the leader of this gang which includes himself and his brothers. I think their plan has something to do with Sephiroth and Jenova, but I don't have any other details yet." Genesis answered.

"So what do we do?" Lightning asked.

"Lightning, you come with me so we can see if we can get anymore info. Cloud, you should probably go back to Aerith's church. I have a feeling that something bad is going on down there." Genesis replied. Cloud nodded as he swung Fenrir into a one-eighty and quickly sped off in the opposite direction as Lightning and Genesis continued on their current path.

* * *

Tifa quickly dashed over and threw a punch at Loz, who blocked the strike with his Dual Hound. Tifa knocked it aside and used her Beat Rush Limit Break, landing about seven good hits to Loz which sent him back. Tifa quickly ran over and landed a kick to Loz's face, but in retaliation, Loz used his Dual Hound's stun feature to send Tifa flying back.

Tifa landed on the floor with some left over electricity on her glove, but she simply shook it off. She jumped at Loz and kicked with both her legs, but Loz jumped over the attack and landed on the opposite side of Tifa. When he turned around Tifa landed a powerful punch to him which sent Loz flying into the wall.

Tifa quickly went after him as Loz jumped back. Tifa caught him off guard and used her Somersault Limit Break. The spinning kick sent Loz off his feet. When Loz landed on the ground, Tifa quickly dashed at him with a punch, but Loz blocked it with his Dual Hound. Loz quickly pushed Tifa back which caused her to stumble before landing a powerful kick to her.

When Tifa stopped sliding back, Loz came at her with a punch with his Dual Hound. Tifa quickly ducked under the attack as Loz's punch left a hole in the wall. Tifa took advantage of this and rammed into Loz and used her Meteodrive Limit Break. As the two went flying into the air Tifa used the force of her body to slam Loz against the ground while she flew past him.

Suddenly Loz grabbed a hold of Tifa's foot and swung her around, causing her to slam into some of the church's benches before throwing her towards the wall. Tifa quickly flipped and landed on the wall which caused an impact force that made pedals from flowers below suddenly burst up into the air.

Tifa quickly used the wall as leverage to dash towards Loz with great speed. Loz threw a punch at her, but Tifa dodged it and slammed her arm against Loz which made him against the ground before sending him high into the air. Tifa quickly jumped into the air used her Meteor Strike Limit Break. She grabbed Loz before spinning around throwing him towards the floor, which caused him to slam into some benches and a dust cloud kicked up.

Tifa landed on the ground and Marlene quickly ran over to her, thinking it was over. Suddenly the two heard what sounded like the ringtone of a cell phone. Suddenly rubble burst from where Loz crashed which alerted Tifa and Marlene. Loz stood up from the rubble as his cell phone was ringing. He answered the call and saw it was Yazoo from the caller I.D.

"Well?" Yazoo asked.

"She's not here" Loz answered.

"Are you crying?"

"I am not crying!" Loz responded in anger.

"Well make sure you get the little one" Yazoo replied.

"Yeah I got it. I'll bring the girl" Loz said as he hung up.

"Now, where were we?" Loz asked as he pointed his Dual Hound at Tifa. Loz quickly kicked a bench towards Tifa, who destroyed the bench with a swing of her arm. Loz suddenly disappeared in a flash of blue and appeared next to Tifa before placing his Dual Hound at Tifa's stomach. Tifa gasped and realized what happened too late. There was a flash of electricity and Tifa was sent flying back into a pillar. Loz appeared in front of Tifa and pinned her against the pillar with his Dual Hound before she hit the ground.

He used his Dual Hound again to hit her body with a blast of energy, which blew apart the pillar before throwing Tifa into flower bed. Now she was barely able to move.

Marlene could only stand there in fear as Loz walked over to Tifa. He kneeled before her as he grabbed her by her vest and brought his Dual Hound back, ready to deliver the killing blow. Suddenly something hit him on the head and landed on the ground. He saw it was a light blue orb, or a Support materia to be more exact.

He turned around to see Marlene was the one who threw the Materia at him. Next to her, he spotted what appeared to be a chest full of different kinds of Materia. An evil smile appeared on his face as he let go of Tifa and walked over to Marlene. Marlene was frozen with fear and couldn't move from where she stood.

"Cloud." Marlene said, begging for Cloud to help her. Tifa slightly regained consciousness and gasped when she saw Loz standing in front of Marlene.

"Just run!" Tifa cried

* * *

A strange feeling suddenly hit Cloud as he felt a sick feeling his stomach. "Something's not right here." Cloud said to himself as he accelerated Fenrir even faster to the church's direction.

_

* * *

_

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	7. Are Sins Ever Forgiven?

Denzel gasped suddenly as he thought her heard Tifa cry out in his head. He felt it was a reaction from his Geostigma. He was sitting on a set of stairs as people walked by while he was staring at the ground. After a few seconds a pair of shoes appeared in his eyesight. A Moggle doll hung next to them as well. "You have the Stigma too?" was what the girl asked.

Denzel lifted his head to see the girl standing in front of him. She was holding the Moggle doll in her right hand and there was visible Geostigma on her right arm and neck. "Come on, they're gonna fix us." the girl said as she grabbed Denzel by his hand and led him off to where ever she was talking about. Denzel felt unsure, but his instincts were saying he may as well check it out.

She led him through an alley to a truck that other infected children were getting on to. The girl ran over to the truck, but Denzel was unsure. After some thought, he finally decided to go along and hopped onto the truck. Yazoo stood at the front of the truck, pleased with how many infected children had gathered.

* * *

Squall was riding around the city with Tidus, looking for Cloud and Lightning with the mysterious cloaked person riding with Squall. "_Come on you two, where are you__?_" Squall impatiently thought as he rode off even faster.

* * *

Cloud walked into the church to see if anything was wrong there. As he walked inside, he was shocked and confused to see that the inside of the church was pretty much torn apart. "_What the hell happened here?_" Cloud thought as he walked forward and observed the damage.

When he reached the front of the large flowerbed, he saw a figure lying in the flowers. After getting a closer look, he was speechless to see it was Tifa, and that she was obviously hurt. Cloud quickly ran over to Tifa and held her up. "Tifa, Tifa!" Cloud cried with a very worried tone.

Tifa groaned as her eyes opened a little bit to see Cloud holding her. "You're late." was Tifa's reply.

"Who did this to you?"

"H-He didn't say" Tifa weakly said.

Suddenly, something struck her mind as she remembered the last thing she saw before she fell unconscious. "Marlene!" Tifa shouted as she suddenly got up with a jolt. She fell back down into Cloud's arms unconscious from the beating she took. Cloud looked around for Marlene to see she was no where to be seen. Then as he eyed his things, he saw that his chest of materia was gone as well.

"Damn!" Cloud said in frustration. Suddenly he felt a great pain in his left arm as his Geostigma was acting up again. Cloud grunted in pain as black ooze began secreting from his sleeve and dripping onto the flowers and grass.

Cloud's eyes turned green and into their cat-like form as he began having visions of Sephiroth as well as Kadaj. Suddenly, he heard Sephiroth's voice in his head. "_Don't pretend you're sad. Why tremble with anger that's not even there? Face it, Cloud. All you are is an empty puppet." _After hearing those words, Cloud fell down unconscious next to Tifa.

Cloud opened his eyes a moment later to see he was in a burning town with orange flames covering everything. The burning town quickly became familiar to Cloud upon seeing it. "_No, it can't be._" Cloud said not believing his eyes. He was in the now burning town of Nibelheim, his home. He felt a dark presence behind him, and he quickly turned around to see Sephiroth standing in the flames. He gave Cloud an evil smile before turning around and walking through the flames.

Cloud clenched his fists as he felt a great deal of anger surge through him. "_It's all your fault… You're the one to blame!_" Cloud shouted as he grabbed the Main Blade from behind him and ran through the flames after Sephiroth. When he reached the end of the flames, Sephiroth had disappeared into thin air.

Cloud was now in a world shrouded in darkness and the burning town of Nibelheim disappeared. Cloud looked all around to see if there was a way out, but all there was around him was pure darkness. Suddenly a surge of pain shot through his left arm from his Geostigma.

Cloud dropped the Main Blade and grabbed his arm in pain as he fell to his knees. Not only was black ooze secreting from his arm, but blood too. A great pain suddenly shot through his upper right back as a large lump suddenly appeared. Cloud let out a loud cry of pain as the lump began growing larger and larger.

Suddenly, a large black feathered wing burst from Cloud's upper right back. The Sephiroth cells in Cloud began reacting to this change strongly as his eyes changed to their cat-like form. Cloud felt as though his body was about to give out any second. Suddenly a ball of white light appeared in front of Cloud, and its light seemed to soothe his pain.

The wing retracted back into Cloud's back as his eyes returned to normal. "_Only you can stop him._" a voice from the ball of light said as the ball expanded and Cloud's entire world was shrouded in light. Cloud felt lightheaded as he fell to the ground. When he landed on the ground, he saw he was once again in the flower garden with Tifa next to him only they were both in Cloud's world of light. Cloud then fell unconscious.

* * *

Cloud woke up and opened his eyes to see he was no longer in Aerith's church. After getting up and getting a better look at his surroundings, he saw he was in the 7th Heaven Bar. He looked to his right to see Tifa sleeping in the bed next to his. Cloud was thinking a lot about the vision he just had since it seemed and felt so real.

"Y'know you're, pretty heavy." Reno's voice said behind Cloud. Cloud turned to his left to see Reno and Rude at the door.

"Weren't there, some kids living with you?" Rude asked.

"Cause they ain't here" Reno added in. Cloud only remained silent.

"You don't care?" Rude asked.

"I just…" is what Cloud said as he looked back at the sleeping Tifa. Reno just let out a sigh of frustration.

"Man, you're a real handful" Reno said as he and Rude left the room.

* * *

In the Forgotten City, Loz had brought Marlene and Cloud's materia chest to Kadaj. Kadaj walked over to the chest and was amazed at what he saw. "Look at what brother was hiding. Powers forged in the Lifestream. Kadaj took a blue materia and placed it on his arm. The materia was absorbed into his arm and could be seen shining through it as a blue aura was illuminating around his arm.

"With this materia, those powers will be ours." Kadaj said.

* * *

When night time came, Tifa awoke to see Cloud standing at the window. "Reno and Rude are out looking for them." Cloud said as he walked over and sat on the other bed.

"Cloud… you have Geostigma. Don't you?" Tifa asked.

Cloud only stayed quiet.

"So you're just gonna give up and die like that. Is that it?" Tifa asked.

Cloud still didn't answer her questions.

"So it is"

"There's no cure" Cloud responded.

"Yeah, but even that's not stopping Denzel is it? Don't run. Let's fight it together, we can help each other I know we can Cloud!" Tifa said

Cloud didn't respond to her.

"I guess that sort of thing only works for real families"

Tifa… I'm not fit to help or protect anyone. Not my family, not my friends… nobody" Cloud said in a gloomy voice.

"Dilly dally shilly shally" Tifa said. Cloud raised his head in confusion at hearing those words.

"Dilly dally shilly shally" she repeated.

"I think she wants you to move on man." Reno said as he and Rude appeared behind the two at the door.

"Did you find them?!" Tifa asked worryingly.

"No. Genesis and Lightning found a witness. Kadaj's gang, took the kids." Reno answered.

"Where are they?" Cloud asked.

"They're at their base now. The Forgotten City" Rude answered.

"Go. I have to talk to Rufus." said Cloud as he got up.

"Stop running!" Tifa responded.

"I know, even if you find them you might not be able to help them. You're scared that something might happen that can never unhappen aren't you? "You need to think about now and really take it in. Right now you're only thinking that you've got it so damn hard! Let people in if you hate being alone so much! You may not answer the phone, but I don't see you throwing it away either!" Tifa said. Her words left a great impact on Cloud.

"You go. The base is all yours." Reno said as he and Rude left the room.

"So which is it? A memory, or us?" Tifa asked. Cloud only stood there in thought of what she told him.

* * *

Cloud was riding Fenrir through the Forgotten City and was heading to the Forgotten Capital, which is where Kadaj and his gang were currently at with the kids.

* * *

At the Forgotten Capital, all of the infected children were gathered in front of the large lake with Kadaj and his gang on the other side. Marlene was with Kadaj's gang and was being held by her shoulder by Loz.

"Mother has given me, a very special gift. The power to fight, against a planet the torments humanity. She gave this gift, to all her children."

What Kadaj just said came as a big shock to all the children.

"That's right. You and I are brethren. Brothers and sisters… chosen when we inherited Mother's memetic legacy through the Lifestream. But… the planet doesn't approve of that at all. It's doing everything it can to hold us back. That's why, it's racking our bodies with pain, and filling our hearts with doubt!"

Kadaj's words continued to have a great impact on the children. "Now, I shall heal you. Then, we will all go to Mother together. We will join as a family and strike back at the planet!" Kadaj said as a large blue aura of energy surrounded him.

"Do as I do." Kadaj said as he walked into the water. As he did, the water began turning an evil shade of black. Kadaj raised his hands from the water and cupped some of it in his hands. He brought his hands to his mouth and drank the water. The children began walking into the water and did what Kadaj had just done.

Denzel stood there in the water, hesitant if he should go though with it.

"Denzel!" Marlene called out. Denzel took some of the water into his hands still hesitant. Finally he decided to go through with it and drank the water.

"Denzel!" Marlene called out again. Denzel moved his arms down as he felt the power of the mysterious water course through him. When he opened his eyes, they suddenly turned green and his irises became a slit like a cats eye. His and all the other kids Reunion instincts had been triggered.

* * *

As Cloud was riding through the Forgotten City, he couldn't help but feel a strange sensation around him. Suddenly before he knew it, he was in a world of white light, just like in his vision. "You came" the voice of Aerith said as she stood behind Cloud.

"Even though you're about to break. That's a good sign." Aerith said. Cloud only stayed silent at hearing his friends voice again.

"So, why did you come?" Aerith asked.

"I think, I want to be… forgiven. More than anything." Cloud answered.

"By who?" Aerith asked. When Cloud turned around he was back in reality and Aerith was gone. Cloud turned around as gunshots went off and bullets came flying his way. Cloud swerved his motorcycle out of the way of the shots to see Kadaj and his gang up ahead. Loz and Yazoo were the ones firing the shots at Cloud.

Cloud opened Fenrir's sword compartments and chose the Main Blade and the Hollow Blade. He accelerated Fenrir, maneuvering the motorcycle with his legs, as he dodged or deflected incoming bullets. Kadaj drew his sword and walked forward as Loz and Yazoo ceased their fire.

With waves of his free hand, infected children suddenly came down from no where. When Cloud saw the children up ahead, he saw Denzel and Marlene in his way. Cloud quickly jerked Fenrir away from the two which caused him to skid out of control. Cloud was thrown off of Fenrir as the bike was sent spinning forward.

Cloud landed on the ground hard as his spinning was stopped by Loz's foot as the Main Blade landed two feet behind it. Kadaj appeared in front of Cloud as the infected children gathered around him. "I'm glad you could make it!" Kadaj said.

"I only came for the kids!" was Cloud's response.

"See this man? He's our big brother!" Kadaj said as he circled Cloud.

"But alas. In our happy flock." Kadaj said as he drew his two bladed sword Souba and held the blades at Cloud's face.

"He's what you'd call a black sheep." Kadaj said as he drew his sword back, ready to kill Cloud.

"Cloud!" Marlene called out which distracted Kadaj. Cloud quickly grabbed the Hollow Blade from in front of him and swung at Kadaj who dodged the strike. The children quickly fled from the area so they wouldn't get caught up in it. Yazoo was firing shots at Cloud while Loz used his super speed to get in close.

Cloud didn't have time to get ready for the attack since he was too focused on deflecting Yazoo's bullets. Loz jumped and swing his Dual Hound at Cloud, but Cloud dodged the attack just in time. Loz threw a series of punches which Cloud was barely able to dodge. Cloud quickly tried to slash at Loz suddenly threw an uppercut which Cloud used the Hollow Blade to block.

The force sent Cloud flying over Loz and he landed hard on the ground. He saw the Main Blade in front of him and quickly grabbed it before seeing Yazoo fire more shots at him. Cloud swung the Main Blade at Yazoo, who ducked under the strike and kicked Cloud's face, sending him sliding back as he continued firing shots at him. Cloud blocked the bullets and swung the Hollow Blade but Yazoo ducked under it and swung his Velvet Nightmare at Cloud who blocked it quickly with the Main Blade.

Loz, a good distance from the two, brought his Dual Hound arm up and then slammed it into the ground, sending a large wave of dirt at them. When Cloud noticed it coming at him, Yazoo did a large jump over the wave while firing shots at Cloud. Cloud deflected the bullets before turning his attention to the dirt wave. He charged the Main Blade up with energy and used Blade Beam. He swung swung the Main Blade, sending a blue energy blast at the wave. On impact, the blast destroyed the dirt wave a large blue explosion.

After the dust cleared, Loz came flying towards Cloud with a punch though Cloud retaliated with a slash which Loz blocked. He used his super speed to reappear all around Cloud while attacking him which left Cloud at a big disadvantage. Yazoo fired shots from his Velvet Nightmare at Cloud which gave him another obstacle to deal with.

Cloud barely managed to blocked the bullets while dodging Loz's punch's at the same time. Cloud quickly did a large jump and landed on the top of one of the white glowing trees. He saw Loz beneath the tree who punched it and caused the tree to fall over. While it was falling, Yazoo landed on the tree and fired shots at Cloud, who blocked them as Loz jumped up at them.

The three were in the air doing melee combat. Cloud was in the middle of the two and was able to fend off their attacks since he had two swords. Cloud quickly performed a big slash which pushed the two back as Cloud landed on a tree branch. He quickly combined the Hollow Blade with the Main Blade as his eyes fell on Kadaj who returned the glance.

Cloud jumped from the tree at Kadaj ready to strike. Suddenly, Cloud's Geostigma sent a surge of pain through his body which caused him to hold back on the power of his strike. Kadaj brought Souba out and easily deflected the strike, but while flying back, Cloud had another vision of Sephiroth.

Kadaj began swinging his sword rapidly at Cloud who was barely able to block them, especially in midair. Kadaj quickly jumped up and brought his sword up as he was ready to kill Cloud. Suddenly two figures appeared above Cloud and slashed their swords at Kadaj who dodged the attacks.

Cloud landed on the ground hard, and his cell phone fell from his pocket into a lake. When Kadaj looked up, he saw the figures were Genesis, and Lightning. Kadaj quickly swung his sword at Genesis who deflected it before swinging back which Kadaj blocked. Lightning got behind Kadaj and swing her sword, but Kadaj just barely managed to move out of the way.

Kadaj was ready to attack again, but his eyes caught the sight of a red cloak descending from above. The red cloak draped down and covered Cloud as gunshots were fired off from it. Kadaj deflected the shots as Yazoo fired shots at the mysterious cloak. The cloak quickly flew away with Cloud as Genesis and Lightning followed it.

"Should we go after them?" Yazoo asked.

"No. That would just be a waste of time. Let's get back to the city." Kadaj said as the three walked off.

* * *

When Cloud opened his eyes, he saw he was no longer in the area of the Forgotten City he once was. He sat up to see Genesis and Lightning standing by him. "You're finally up." Lightning said.

"What happened?" Cloud asked.

"Well, we just saved you and that's pretty much it." Genesis answered.

Cloud noticed Vincent was standing with them. "Vincent, what do you know about this?" Cloud asked.

"I come here often. I've seen what Kadaj's group is doing." Vincent said as he walked over and grabbed Cloud's left arm. Suddenly Cloud's Geostigma sent another surge of pain through him.

"The Stigma. It's a symptom of alien matter infesting the body. The body tries to eliminate it and over compensates." Vincent said as he let go of Cloud's arm and the pain stopped.

"Inside our bodies is a current, like the Lifestream. That current is what fights off any malevolent intruders."

"What do you mean by intruders?" Cloud asked.

"The Sephiroth Gene, Jenova's memetic legacy. Call it what you want" Vincent answered.

"You're well informed." Lightning said.

"So how did you find this out?" Cloud asked.

"Tseng and Elena. They were brought here half-dead. They must've been brutally tortured. I did what I could to revive them, but… well we'll see" Vincent said.

"Tortured?" Cloud asked.

"They had it coming to them. They got their hands on Jenova's head." Vincent said.

"So when Kadaj says he's looking for mother"

"Heaven's dark harbinger. The calamity, Jenova. If they wanted to, they could recreate Sephiroth." Vincent said.

"Kadaj. What is he?" Cloud asked.

"I'd rather not know." was Vincent's answer. Suddenly there was a rustling in the bushes and everyone grabbed their weapons incase it was an enemy. A small figure came running out of the bushes and ran into Cloud which turned out to be Marlene.

"Marlene!"

"Cloud! Denzel, and Tifa!"

"Don't worry, Tifa is alright"

"I wanna talk to her!"

Cloud reached into his pocket to get his phone, but he saw it wasn't there. "May I?" Marlene asked Vincent. Vincent lifted his cloak showing he didn't have one.

"You don't have a phone?"

"Neither do we." Genesis answered for himself and Lightning.

"Come on Marlene. I'll take you to Tifa." Cloud said. Marlene nodded as she took Cloud's hand in hers. Before they left, Cloud asked Vincent a question he though was very important.

"Vincent. Are sins, ever forgiven?"

"I've never tried" Vincent answered.

"Never tried?" which left Cloud in thought.

"Well I'm gonna try. I'll let you know how it goes" Cloud said as he left with Marlene, Lightning, and Genesis.

_

* * *

_

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	8. Bahamut SIN Attacks

Back in the city of Edge, a very large group of citizens were gathered around the Meteor Monument in the middle of the area. Yazoo and Loz were standing in front of the monument as the possessed children were positioned around the monument to act as a shield for Loz and Yazoo against the citizens.

The citizens were yelling at them to let their children go immediately. Loz and Yazoo were easily becoming annoyed by the protests of the people. Yazoo looked at Loz who nodded in response. Yazoo turned towards the people and raised his arm above him which caused the citizens to be quiet, wondering what Yazoo was doing.

All of a sudden, black shadows appeared on the ground beneath the people. Shadow Creepers came flying out of the shadows which greatly frightened the people. The Shadow Creepers began driving people back to get them away from the monument. Tifa showed up on the other side of the monument, looking around for Denzel with all the chaos going around her.

When she looked around some more, she spotted Denzel at the back part of the monument. Tifa quickly ran over to him. "Denzel, Denzel!" Tifa cried as she shook Denzel, trying to wake him up. Denzel didn't respond as his eyes were constantly shifting between his normal eyes and his Jenova eyes.

Satisfied with the people out of the way, Loz and Yazoo were now preparing to take down the Meteor Monument.

"And what are we doing?" a voice said behind the two. They turned around two see Reno and Rude approach them.

"We know. Mother's here." Yazoo said as he pointed towards the Meteor Monument.

"Oh really? What makes you think that?" Rude asked.

"This thing here… monument. Shinra made it." Loz answered.

"Oh no, you're just too smart." Reno said sarcastically.

"Except, you're wrong." Rude said.

"And wherever she is, we just don't know." Reno added in.

"As if anyone would trust you." Yazoo retorted which angered Reno. The two quickly charged at the two as Reno drew his rod.

* * *

Rufus sat in his wheelchair at the edge of a building. "Say Kadaj, I've got a question for you." Rufus said as Kadaj appeared from behind him.

"I've got an answer." Kadaj said as he stopped walking right at the buildings edge.

"You said before that you need Jenova cells to be whole again. What did you mean by that?"

"Him. He's coming back." Kadaj said.

"Sephiroth. The nightmare." Rufus responded.

"So they say."

You mean…"

"I've never known Sephiroth. It's just… I know he's close by. I can sense him there. It's just unbearable, to think that Mother might want Sephiroth more than..."

"Poor little remnant." Rufus finished.

"It doesn't matter who she picks you'll all meet the same end! Mother came to this planet after a long journey. In order to rid the cosmos of fools like you. But, you already know as well as I do. Nothing's changed since she got here. In order to make Mother happy, I have to change it. If she willed it, I would do anything for her." Kadaj said.

"Hmph, the nightmare returns." Rufus replied.

"As long as you and others who are like you exist, the nightmares will come again and again." Kadaj retorted.

"The Lifestream courses throughout our planet. Back and forth across the borders of both life and death. If the very truth of life lies in that cycle, then history will inevitably repeat itself again and again. So go on, bring your Jenova's and your Sephiroth's. It won't matter. We'll do as life dictates, and stop you every single time." Rufus said.

"Please sir, is that supposed to be your excuse for going after Mother yourself? You don't seem all that sorry about it." Kadaj replied with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Sorry? Why, I've never had this much fun." Rufus replied.

Kadaj's left arm started glow as he turned around. "Good. Then let's put an end, to all this." Kadaj said as he held his arm up. A powerful blue aura surrounded Kadaj's arm. Kadaj quickly swung his arm and sent a blue blast of energy towards the sky. The blast went into the clouds and disappeared.

* * *

The clouds began to darken and swirl as lightning flashed around it. The clouds began swirling downwards and taking some sort of shape. The clouds had white energy lines come from them which combined to form a large shape. The lines of energy then transformed into the Bahamut SIN.

The giant dragon like creature flapped its large wings as it flew down towards the city. Everyone began to grow more out of control as they saw the Bahamut SIN flying towards the city as the Shadow Creepers were still driving people away. When the Bahamut SIN eyed the Meteor Monument, it quickly set course towards the structure.

Reno and Rude stopped the charge towards Loz and Yazoo as they saw the Bahamut SIN coming towards the monument. "You gotta be kidding me." Reno said as he and Rude quickly ran in the opposite direction. Loz and Yazoo smiled evilly and quickly ran after the two.

Tifa looked around to see the large amount of chaos being spread by the creatures. "Denzel, we have to move!" Tifa said before turning around to see a Shadow Creeper jump towards her. Tifa was about to strike it with her fist, but the Shadow Creeper was suddenly crushed under something huge. Tifa looked up in shock to see the Bahamut SIN was what crushed the Shadow Creeper.

As Reno and Rude were running, they picked up the children positioned around the monument to get them out of harms way. The Bahamut SIN floated above the Meteor Monument with destructive intent. The creature began to gather a large amount of blue energy which continued to grow larger.

When enough energy was gathered in its mouth, the Bahamut SIN fired a blue energy blast right into the Meteor Monument which caused a large explosion. Reno and Rude weren't able to get out of the blast radius and the wind of the explosion sent them flying. Debris was sent everywhere as the entire monument had been destroyed, leaving a large flaming crater in the spot where the monument used to be.

The Bahamut SIN let out a loud roar as it had completed its task of destroying the monument. Reno and Rude lay on the ground from the explosions force. They weakly tried getting up as the children they rescued had gotten up and ran off. The two looked behind them to see Loz and Yazoo standing behind them.

"Are we having fun yet?" Yazoo asked the two.

"The time of my life!" Reno stated as he quickly got up and kicked at Yazoo who blocked the attack as Rude attacked Loz. Reno continued kicking at Yazoo while also swinging his rod at him, but his quick movements were too slow and weak to connect with the Sephiroth Remnant.

Yazoo quickly swung his leg and landed a powerful kick to Reno which sent him to the ground. Reno quickly scrambled to his feet and continued his assault on Yazoo. Loz tried punching Loz with his right fist but Rude caught the fist in his hand. He tried again with the other fist though the result was the same.

What do you punks want Jenova's head for!?" Rude said as he kneed Loz a couple times and then tried to suplex him. After he went over Rude, Loz managed to land on his feet. Rude gasped as Loz stared back with an evil smile. Loz quickly gained control and threw Rude over him which sent him flying.

Meanwhile, Yazoo and Reno were still fighting by them. "When are you three weirdo's gonna call it a day?!" Reno said as he swung his rod at Yazoo who jumped over the attack and landed on a building rooftop. "Just as soon as you give back Mother, that'll be the end of it." Yazoo replied.

Reno quickly ran over and climbed up the side of the building with great speed. When he reached the top, he quickly continued his attack on Yazoo. "Forget your little Reunion and get a grip!" Reno shouted as he swung his rod at Yazoo, still without landing a hit.

"All we want is to be with Mother!" Yazoo said as he landed a powerful kick on Reno which sent him flying.

Loz approached Rude who was getting off the ground. "Mother will know. When she gets here, she'll decide what's best. Now, where's Mother?" Loz asked. As soon as Rude got up, a large sign came down and hit him on the head which left him in a daze before Reno landed on him which caused both of them to hit the ground.

Reno got off of Rude and stepped on his sun glasses causing them to break. Rude saw this and gave Reno one of those what the hell looks. Rude got up and pulled a second pair out as Reno began dusting himself off with his rod. "Mother shmother. It's Jenova's frickin' head man." Reno said.

"Hey!" Loz retorted.

"I will not have you say things like that about Mother!" said Yazoo.

"You meanie!" Loz said in his child-like tone.

"Our apologies." Rude said.

"Yeah, your mom's cool. Wait a minute, what the hell am I saying?!" Reno said as the two attacked again. Reno jumped in the air and Yazoo did the same. Loz was distracted by this which gave Rude the chance to land a strong punch to him that sent him back. Reno managed to hit Yazoo as well which sent him crashing into the ground.

Reno gave Rude a thumbs up when he landed on the ground, but neglected to see Loz get up and run at them Reno quickly turned around to see Loz punch at him with his Dual Hound. "Oh crap!" Reno said as he brought his rod up in defense. This did little as the force of the punch sent him and Rude flying back far and sliding against the concrete.

The two slowly got up as Loz and Yazoo landed on both sides of the two still ready to fight while Reno and Rude were starting to tire.

* * *

The Bahamut SIN continued letting out loud roars as the Shadow Creeper's continued spreading chaos on the citizens of Edge. Denzel groaned as he slightly opened his eyes. When he opened them completely, he saw he was on the ground and that there was weight on his back. He looked over his shoulder to see Tifa on top of Denzel, unconscious.

Denzel got her off him as he checked on her. "Tifa?"

There was no response, indicating the explosion must've been a powerful one. Then suddenly, the Bahamut SIN appeared in front of Denzel with killer intent in its eyes. Tifa had awoken to see the large creature approaching them The creature was about to attack the two when a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of Denzel.

His mechanical hand transformed into a large three barreled machine gun which he fired rapid shots at the Bahamut SIN which made it back off.

"You look after momma!" Barret said to Denzel.

"Barret!" Tifa said in surprise.

"Hey Tifa, Marlene better be safe!" Barret said before running towards the Bahamut SIN. Red XIII came in running towards the Bahamut SIN as well with Cait Sith on his back. Red XIII jumped up and sunk his fangs into the Bahamut SIN which caused it to let out a screech of pain as it began flying through the air.

Barret continued firing shots into the Bahamut SIN as it flew around with Red XIII hanging onto it. The Bahamut SIN started jerking around violently, trying to shake Red XIII off of it. After a few more attempts, it succeeded and Red XIII was thrown off. Barret quickly used his Big Shot Limit Break and fired a large fireball at the Bahamut SIN.

When it collided with the creature, it only caused a little bit of pain. Barret continued firing shots at the Bahamut SIN as it flew around. Barret tried charging up another Big Shot, but the Bahamut SIN approached and Barret saw he wouldn't have enough time to charge the Limit Break up in time.

When the Bahamut SIN got close to Barret, a large shuriken and a metal circle came flying in and scratched the Bahamut SIN's head. Barret turned around with a smile to see Yuffie and Rinoa come flying down as they caught their weapons. "Bout time you two got here!" Barret said.

"Well, we're here." Yuffie said as she turned her attention to the Bahamut SIN. The Bahamut SIN turned its attention back to the gang after recovering from Yuffie and Rinoa's attack.

"This'll be just like old times." Rinoa said as they started attacking the Bahamut SIN again. Denzel stood on the ground with Tifa, confused as to who these people were.

Suddenly a group of Shadow Creepers jumped at Tifa and Denzel. Tifa quickly put her arms around Denzel to protect him. When the Shadow Creepers were about to kill Tifa and Denzel, Cid came flying down with his spear and took down one of the Shadow Creepers before swinging his spear around and taking out the rest of the Shadow Creepers. "She's a beaut! My Shera, the latest model." Cid said as he pointed up to the sky and the ship flew overhead.

"I'll give ya the grand tour later!" Cid said as he ran off to join the fight with the others.

"Where can I buy a phone?" a deep voice said behind them. The two turned to see Vincent walk ahead of them.

"Who's he?" Denzel asked.

"They're our friends." Tifa answered. Denzel stared at her in wonder before the two heard the sound of a motorcycle engine. The two turned around to see Cloud drive up by them. The two walked over to him as Cloud opened Fenrir's sword compartments.

"Marlene's safe. I took her home." Cloud said as he took on of the Back Blades and sheathed it behind him. Tifa nodded in response, indicating Cloud did the right thing. After a tiny moment of silence Cloud said "I feel lighter."

"Hm?"

"Maybe I lost some weight, from all that dilly dally." Cloud said as he sheathed the other Back Blade behind him and drew the Main Blade. Tifa just smiled at his response.

"I'm gonna go back to see Marlene Cloud. We'll wait for you." Denzel said before running off. He then stopped and turned around. "We'll see you there, won't we Cloud?"

Cloud nodded in response and Denzel ran off back to the 7th Heaven Bar. Tifa climbed onto Fenrir as Cloud sped off towards the abandoned buildings where the battle was taking place. As he did, he saw Genesis, Lightning, Tidus, and Squall also riding towards where the battle was.

Barret continued firing rounds into the Bahamut SIN as it was flying around the area. Cid ran along a building edge that the Bahamut SIN was flying near. He quickly jumped off the building and stabbed his spear right into the back of the Bahamut SIN's neck. The creature let out a loud roar of pain as it began flying around rapidly.

In an attempt to stop Cid, the Bahamut SIN flew towards some buildings with Cid in range of the buildings. "Oh crap!" Cid exclaimed as he saw the buildings getting closer to him. "Got you!" Cait Sith said as Red XIII jumped from a building and grabbed Cid before he collided with the buildings. Red XIII released Cid on another building so they could continue the fight.

Barret charged up a Big Shot as the Bahamut SIN fired a large blue blast at Barret. Barret quickly fired his Big Shot at the energy blast, though it did little as the blast was engulfed by the Bahamut SIN's attack. Barret quickly tried to jump out of the way of the blast, but he was still caught by the wind of the explosion and sent flying.

Barret quickly caught a hold of a buildings beam to stop himself from falling. Vincent came flying out of the flames and fired shots from Cerberus into the Bahamut SIN which caused it to keep its distance from Vincent. Squall had jumped up from below with his Lionheart gunblade in hand and his Revolver gunblade sheathed behind him. Genesis, Lightning, and Tidus also jumped up from below.

As she flew up towards the Bahamut SIN, Lightning fired shots from Blaze Edge's gun mode at it. The shots ricocheted off the Bahamut SIN which caused it to turn its attention towards Lightning. The Bahamut SIN fired a shot from its mouth at Lightning. Lightning quickly snapped her fingers and brought up her electric shield. Lightning flew around the blast and swung Blaze Edge at Bahamut SIN, and surprisingly left a cut in it. Genesis flew towards the Bahamut SIN with great speed. The Bahamut SIN swung its arm at Genesis, but Genesis flew over the strike. Genesis swung his sword at the Bahamut SIN's head which batted its head to the side while leaving a cut on its cheek.

Squall quickly jumped towards the Bahamut SIN and swung down Lionheart. The blade, however, was deflected off the Bahamut SIN's tough metal like skin. The Bahamut SIN snapped its jaws at Squall, who flew out of the way in time. squall swung Lionheart one more time, and this time managed to leave a cut in it. Squall quickly jumped off as the Bahamut SIN tried to shake him off. Yuffie ran up the side of a building before jumping off and throwing her shuriken. The spinning weapon scratched off the surface of the Bahamut SIN's head which didn't harm it much.

Rinoa appeared on the Bahamut SIN's arm and quickly stabbed her Vanishing Star gunblade into it. The Bahamut SIN let out a howl of pain as it shook Rinoa off its arm. Rinoa quickly threw her Silenced Tear blaster edge at the Bahamut SIN. The weapons bounced off its wing which left a stinging feeling inside it. The Bahamut let out another painful howl as the Silenced Tear returned to Rinoa. Squall landed on a building before jumping off it as the tail of the Bahamut SIN swung around, and destroyed it.

Yuffie landed on a building and caught her shuriken in her hand, but the Bahamut SIN suddenly appeared in front of her and charged up and energy blast. Yuffie just stood there since she wouldn't have enough time to get out of the way of the blast. Tidus quickly came flying down and stabbed Brotherhood right into the Bahamut SIN's neck. The pain caused the creature to change the trajectory of its attack and fire the blast towards the sky.

Cid quickly jumped onto the Bahamut SIN and stabbed his spear into the back of its neck as well. The creature let out loud howls of pain as it began flying around in random directions. As it approached, Lightning leaped high into the air and slashed the Bahamut SIN on its side and left a wound on its metal skin.

The Bahamut SIN jerked around even more rapidly which threw Cid and Tidus off its back. Vincent quickly jumped onto the Bahamut SIN as it tried to slash at him. Vincent jumped all around the creature while firing off shots at it which annoyed it greatly. Vincent fired a powered up shot into the Bahamut SIN's eyes which blinded it for a few seconds.

When it opened its eyes, it saw Genesis flying at it with his sword in its powered up form. Genesis swung downwards and the blade made contact with the Bahamut SIN's face, and left a scratch on it. The Bahamut SIN quickly swung its arms and sent Vincent and Genesis back.

The Bahamut SIN fired a blast at the building which Genesis and Vincent managed to avoid. The blast crashed into the buildings above Barret and debris fell towards him. Barret looked up in shock to see the burning debris headed his way, though an arm extended out and grabbed Barret before pulling him out of the way of the debris.

The person jumped far and let Barret go on a building platform before landing on a building edge next to it. Barret looked up to see that Cloud was the one who just saved him. "The hell you been?!" Barret shouted at Cloud. Cloud stared at the Bahamut SIN as it stopped flying around the area. Tifa jumped up onto the building with Vincent and Cid.

Cloud jumped off the building towards the Bahamut SIN as it turned around to face him. Cloud swung the Main Blade at the Bahamut SIN, but the creature caught the blade in its mouth. Cloud pulled the blade back as he swung one of the Back Blades with his left hand though the Bahamut SIN's hard metal like head stopped the attack.

Cloud was flying back as he continued swinging his swords at the Bahamut SIN. The Bahamut SIN caught one of the attacks and sent Cloud flying back who managed to land on a building behind him. Cloud combined the Back Blade with the Main Blade as he readied himself for the Bahamut SIN's attack.

The Bahamut SIN fired an energy blast at him only for Cloud to charge his sword with energy and slash the blast in half. Cloud jumped at the creature and swung his sword down on its head multiple times as the Bahamut SIN snapped its large jaws at him. Cloud quickly activated his Braver Limit Break which covered himself and his sword with a fiery blue aura. Cloud jumped flew high into the air before comgin down and landing a powerful blow to the Bahamut SIN's face which sent it flying down to the ground.

It crashed into the ground as Cloud came down and landed on a beam. The Bahamut SIN got up and let out a loud roar, showing Cloud's attack broke off some of its metal skin and damaged its eye. The Bahamut SIN began gathering a large amount of energy in its mouth which left everyone wondering at what it was doing.

* * *

Kadaj stood with Rufus as his arm was still glowing white from the Materia's power. "This is too much fun sir! Any requests for the next act?" Kadaj asked but when he turned around, Rufus had stood up out of his chair and tossed the white cloak that was covering him off. He stood there with bandages over his eye and a black and sealed box in his hand.

Kadaj gasped when he saw the word "Jenova" printed on the box. "Mother!" Kadaj exclaimed in realization.

"A good son would've known." Rufus said as he tossed the box over the edge of the building. Kadaj charged energy into his left arm as he attacked Rufus in a blind rage.

* * *

The beast quickly took off to the sky, readying itself for its attack. Cloud jumped up towards Barret who grabbed Cloud's hand. "Alley-oop!" Barret said as he tossed Cloud high into the air. Cloud caught up to the Bahamut SIN and slashed at it, but it swung its head and deflected Cloud's attack.

Cloud was sent flying downwards as he was slightly out of control. He tried grabbing a hold of the Bahamut SIN, but he missed and fell down. Cid brought his spear out and Cloud landed on the pole part. "Giddyap!" Cid said as he swung the spear and sent Cloud high into the air. The Bahamut SIN left the cities range as the energy in its mouth began to grow still. Red XIII appeared behind Cloud.

"There you go!" Cait Sith said as Red XIII grabbed Cloud's shoulder with his jaws before throwing him even further into the air. Next up, Yuffie appeared beneath Cloud and placed her hands beneath Cloud's foot before boosting him up further. Cloud looked up to see the Bahamut SIN stopped it ascension as the energy in its mouth began glowing brighter.

Cloud took the other Back Blade and combined it with the Main Blade. Vincent jumped off the building he was on and grabbed Cloud's hand. "Fly" he said before throwing Cloud farther upwards. A ball of energy had formed in the Bahamut SIN's mouth as it was ready to attack.

Squall jumped up next to Cloud and threw him higher as Tidus and Rinoa did the same. Next Genesis jumped out and grabbed his arm. "Make sure you live up to Zack's words." Genesis said before throwing Cloud. Lightning then jumped up and grabbed Cloud's hand.

"Never stop, keep moving forward!" Lighting said before throwing Cloud. Tifa had jumped from a building and reached out to Cloud who grabbed her hand. "No giving up!" Tifa said as she tossed Cloud into the sky. Blue energy surrounded Cloud's body as he and the Bahamut SIN flew towards each other.

The Bahamut SIN fired its attack, which was of massive proportions and was heading straight for Cloud. Cloud flew and went straight into the energy blast. He was struggling some as it was hard to move forward with the force the blast was putting on him. Then Cloud noticed he was suddenly in a world of white light. His eyes widened as he saw the images of Zack and Aerith floating towards him.

Both extended their arms out to him and he took both of them.

"Ready?" Aerith asked. Cloud nodded in response.

"You can do this no problem." Zack said.

"Yeah." Cloud said in response. Cloud was engulfed by the white light as Zack and Aerith assisted him. Cloud came flying out of the energy blast and flew towards the Bahamut SIN. The creature snapped its jaws at Cloud, but he dodged them and stabbed his sword into the creatures back, activating his Climhazzard Limit Break. Cloud began running across its back while dragging his sword across it which left a trail of blue fire.

Cloud ripped the sword out of it as he flew past the creature. The Bahamut SIN was engulfed by blue energy as its now lifeless body fell towards the city. It crashed into the ground which kicked up a large dust cloud. Cloud came flying down and landed on a building, victorious.

___

* * *

Read & Review_


	9. Highway Action

Cloud and the others stared down at the now lifeless body of the Bahamut SIN. Suddenly Cloud heard a loud cry from behind him. He quickly turned his head to see a bright white light shining from one of the buildings in the city. When he got a closer look, he could see it was Kadaj about to attack Rufus. Cloud quickly jumped down from the building as he quickly ran towards Fenrir to stop Kadaj.

* * *

Kadaj fired a Matra spell from his Materia empowered arm at Rufus in his anger. Rufus side stepped off the side of the building and the blast collided with another part of the building, causing an explosion. Rufus pulled out his gun from his coat and began firing shots at Kadaj. "Mother!" Kadaj called out as he leaped off the building after the box containing Jenova's remains. Kadaj leaped off the building at a faster speed and flew past Rufus while chasing after the box. Reno and Rude looked up at hearing the explosion, only to see Rufus and Kadaj falling from the building.

"Sir no!" the two cried at seeing their superior falling off the building. Rufus continued firing shots at Kadaj as Kadaj continued reaching for the box. After many failed shots, Rufus finally fired one more shot which zoomed through the space between Kadaj's fingers. The shot smacked the box and green liquid began seeping out of the damaged side as the two were almost at the ground. Tseng and Elena appeared on two sides of the building with bandages on their injuries with net guns in their hands.

The two quickly fired the net guns and saftly caught Rufus in the nets as Kadaj and the box continued to fall towards the ground. Just as Kadaj was about to reach it, the box suddenly disappeared from sight. Kadaj gasped in shock as he landed on the ground by Reno, Rude, Loz, and Yazoo. He looked around for the box only to see it was nowhere in sight. Suddenly, Kadaj sensed an unfamiliar presence nearby and turned in the direction of the presence.

In the middle of the street stood a man with brown hair, a black jacket and black glasses. In his hand was the box containing Jenova's remains. The man smirked as he quickly jumped onto a motorcycle parked near him and sped off with the box. "After him! He has Mother!" Kadaj called to Yazoo and Loz. At the mention of the word Mother, Loz and Yazoo quickly broke away from Reno and Rude and got onto their motorcycles as did Kadaj. Before heading off, Kadaj looked to his right to see Cloud heading their direction. Kadaj ignored Cloud and quickly started up his motorcycle and sped off in the direction of the man who took the box.

Cloud accelerated and passed Loz and Yazoo before they were able to head off. The man with the box looked back to see Cloud and the three Sephiroth remnants coming after him. The man quickly sped up as he turned right at an intersection. Kadaj, Cloud, Loz and Yazoo followed him the same way. The five quickly drove through another intersection while also avoiding the people who were trying to cross the street. After that, they all turned left and entered the road leading to the unfinished highway.

There was a blockade sign ahead that said "Do Not Enter" on it. The man ignored the sign and accelerated towards it. His motorcycle easily smashed through the sign and he entered the highway. The smashed sign flew towards Kadaj and Cloud who ducked under it. Kadaj accelerated ahead after the man as Loz and Yazoo got on both sides of Cloud. Yazoo began firing shots at Cloud who quickly moved Fenrir out of the way of the bullets.

Loz appeared on his left and used his motorcycle to slam Cloud's against the side of the highway. He was about to hit Cloud with his Dual Hound, but Cloud opened Fenrir's sword compartments which pushed away Loz's motorcycle into the wall on the side of the highway. Cloud drew his sword from one of the compartments as Yazoo swung his motorcycle around and began sliding it sideways as he continued firing shots at Cloud. Cloud deflected the bullets with his sword as he accelerated towards Yazoo.

Cloud swung down his sword which Yazoo blocked with his Velvet Nightmare. The two motorcycles were spinning around each other as both were trying to gain the advantage. Cloud pushed Yazoo back which caused him to slightly lose control of his motorcycle as Cloud accelerated past Yazoo. The man looked back to see Kadaj was still after him with Cloud catching up. He quickly turned right onto the higher road and Kadaj followed after him.

Cloud was about to turn onto the higher road, but Loz suddenly appeared in front of him. He jumped off his motorcycle and flew down while swinging his Dual Hound at Cloud. Cloud spun Fenrir into a one eighty in order to avoid the attack. While riding backwards, Cloud looked to his left to see there was no way he could get onto the higher road now. He spun Fenrir back around and continued on the road he was riding on. Loz jumped into the air and landed on his still moving motorcycle as he and Yazoo continued their pursuit of Cloud.

Kadaj looked over the side to see Cloud was catching up, so he went even faster. Cloud looked behind him to see machine guns unfold from the sides of Yazoo and Loz's motorcycles. They began firing shots at Cloud who moved left and right to avoid the shots. Loz and Yazoo didn't notice Reno and Rude were tailing them in a helicopter. "You losers are chasing the wrong guy!" Reno said as he began firing the helicopters front mounted machine guns at Loz and Yazoo.

The two began moving around to avoid the gunfire coming from behind them. Loz quickly popped a wheelie and turned his motorcycle around. He pressed his foot against Yazoo's motorcycle to keep his up as he began firing shots from his motorcycle back at the helicopter. Unfortunately, they were now going under the higher road so the helicopter was now impossible to hit. Loz grunted in frustration, but suddenly when there was an opening in the side, the helicopter appeared facing the Loz and Yazoo.

It continued firing shots at them causing Loz to push away from Yazoo's motorcycle and they continued riding while avoiding the helicopters gunfire. The helicpoter flew in front of them and up next to Cloud. Cloud quickly accelerated ahead of the helicopter as Rude opened up the sidedoor with a very large rocket launcher in his right hand. He fired a shot which zoomed towards Loz and Yazoo at incredible speeds. The two managed to barely avoid it, but the rocket hit the road behind them which caused a large explosion.

The explosion caused the entire road behind them to start breaking apart as well as the road they were driving on which caused them to lose control. The upper road also began breaking apart as a large dust cloud kicked up over the destruction. Reno thought the two were stopped, but Yazoo appeared on the destroyed road. He quickly accelerated towards the end of what was left of the road he was driving on. He turned onto the destroyed end and went flying off towards the helicopter.

Rude looked out the side door to see Yazoo flying towards the helicopter. He quickly backed out the other door of the helicopter as Yazoo came flying through. Before flying through the helicopter, Yazoo shot Reno's control stick with his Velvet Nightmare. Reno heard Rude scream on the com link as Yazoo flew through the helicopter to the undestroyed road. "Rude!" Reno called as he quickly reached for the control stick to save his partner, only for the control stick to break off from Yazoo's gun. Yazoo and Loz landed on the road as Reno started screaming from the helicopter spinning out of control.

"No no no! Don't do this to me!" Reno said as he looked out the side door for Rude, only to see Rude hanging on to the side of the helicopter.

"Hey, Rude, you're alright!" Reno said as he watched his partner hang onto the helicopter.

"Yeah. I'm just peachy." Rude said in sarcasm as the helicopter span towards an unfinished tower. It collided with the tower and sent Reno and Rude onto the roof of a building as the flaming helicopter crashed into the the high road. A piece of the road and helicopter broke through and were flying towards Cloud, who dodged them and sped up enough not to get caught in the explosion. Reno and Rude sat up from the ground to see another helicopter flying above them. "Hey, guys!" Elena called down as a rope was extended down for them.

Cloud managed to get out of the way of the falling debris just in time, but Loz and Yazoo made it as well. The three entered a tunnel after escaping the chaos behind them. Loz turned his motorcycle to the left and was moving fast enough for the motorcycle to ride on the walls and then onto the ceiling above Cloud. Loz jumped off his motorcycle at Cloud who blocked the attack with his sword as his motorcycle was slightly spinning out of control.

Cloud used his strength to push Loz off Fenrir. Loz landed on Yazoo's motorcycle and jumped off it after his. Yazoo fired shots at Cloud who deflected them with swings from his sword. Loz landed on his motorcycle as Cloud drew the other Side Blade from Fenrir's compartment and accelerated towards Yazoo. He swung it down but Yazoo dodged the strike. He swung again with the Side Blade, but Yazoo ducked under that strike.

Yazoo fired shots at Cloud as their motorcycles spun around each others, but Cloud blocked them with his sword. Cloud swung down hard with his sword, but Yazoo managed to block the large sword with his Velvet Nightmare. Loz sent his Dual Hound into the ground which stopped his motorcycle before Loz used his legs to throw the motorcycle towards Cloud and Yazoo. Yazoo ducked under the flying motorcycle as he fired a shot at Cloud who blocked it.

Cloud used Fenrir to jump forward and quickly combined the other Side Blade with his sword, completing the entire Fusion Sword. Cloud spun upside down and swung the Fusion Sword, completely slicing Loz's motorcycle in half. Loz suddenly appeared and swung his Dual Hound at Cloud, but Cloud managed to fly over the strike before being kicked back towards Fenrir by Loz. Loz grabbed hold of one half of his motorcycle and gasped before it exploded.

A blue blur suddenly came flying out of the flaming remains of the motorcycle. Just as Cloud landed on Fenrir, Loz appeared from the blue blur and punched Cloud in the air before warping up and kicking him two more times and sending him back towards Fenrir. Yazoo pushed Fenrir out of the way as he fired shots at Cloud who was forced back by the bullets. Yazoo jumped at Cloud as he pushed Loz away from him. Loz used his warp power and flew towards Cloud from one side as Yazoo came flying in from the other side.

Cloud quickly flipped a Side Blade from the Fusion Sword and caught it in his left hand. He used both swords to block Loz and Yazoo's attacks from both sides of him. Cloud quickly used his strength to push the two off him. While they were pushed back Cloud used both swords and swung both of them hard. The spinning attack cut into Loz's Dual Hound which left an electricity sparking slice in the middle of it. Loz quickly threw the weapon off him as it exploded.

Yazoo drove over and caught Loz on his motorcycle which skidded to a stop as Cloud landed on Fenrir and drove off ahead of the brothers. Yazoo tossed one of his Velvet Nightmare guns away as the front part of the barrel had been sliced off and bent from Cloud's attack. Yazoo quickly accelerated his motorcycle after Cloud.

Kadaj was still driving very fast on the highway road after the man with the box that contained Jenova's remains. As the two sped passed on one road, Reno and Rude stood in the middle of the other road. "Hey, partner. This thing got any bite to it?" Reno asked as he held up a large explosive device in his hand.

"Shinra technology at its finest." Rude answered.

"Oh, so you made this." Reno replied.

"If nothing else, it's flashy." Rude replied back.

"Oh, good." Reno said with excitement in his voice.

"You love it. I know." Rude said back.

"Looks like today we're clocking out early." Reno said as they patiently waited for the right time. Cloud quickly exited the tunnel and flew passed the two Turks. Yazoo and Loz exited the tunnel, only to see the explosive devices count downs reaching zero. There was a large and colorful explosion which caused a strong wind that caused Cloud to spin. Kadaj and the man looked back to see the explosion going on. Cloud flew off the edge of the higher road as colorful firework-like explosions went off in the sky.

Kadaj quickly spun his motorcycle to sliding on its side as he blocked the attack from Cloud's sword with his Souba. As they were riding on the road while keeping their swords connected, they looked ahead to see the man with the box ride his motorcycle off the edge of the incomplete highway. Suddenly, his motorcycle transformed into a jet-like vehicle and he flew off towards a large ship in the sky. He flew his vehicle into the ship and as just as the hangar closed, the ship took off at a great speed.

Cloud and Kadaj weren't able to stop, and both went flying off the edge into the remains of Midgar. Kadaj's motorcycle slid down the sand and dirt covered wall as Cloud came speeding in on Fenrir with his sword out. Both stabbed at each other, but they both missed each other. Kadaj broke off from Cloud and drove off in the direction of an exit to Midgar. Cloud, figuring there was no point in chasing Kadaj now that Jenova's remains were out of his reach, sheathed his sword in a compartment and drove off towards another exit.

* * *

After getting out of Midgar, Cloud drove all the way back to the city, this time with no interferences. As he was driving on the roads on Edge city, a man in a brown cloak suddenly appeared on the road in front of him. Cloud skidded to a stop and was a few feet away from hitting the person. "Are you crazy?! Are you trying to get yourself killed?!" Cloud shouted at the person. The person didn't respond. Instead, they tossed an object in their hand towards Cloud.

He caught it, only to his surprise to see it was his cell phone which he lost in the Forgotten City. "Hurry Cloud. We must get to your friends so I can inform you all of what is happening, and what you can do to stop it." the man said.

"Fine, then hop on." Cloud said in a somewhat irritated voice as he placed his cell phone in his pocket. The man hopped on the back and Cloud quickly accelerated off in the direction of the 7th Heaven Bar.

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	10. One Year Ago, One Year Later

AN: I'm going to add characters and other stuff from the video game WET in here. Since there is use of the F word in WET, I'll censor it to keep the story at the T rating.

_Disclaimer: I don't own WET or anything about it. It belongs to Artificial Mind and Movement, as well as Bethesda Softworks._

* * *

Cloud stopped Fenrir in front of the alley where the 7th Heaven Bar was. "Stay here." Cloud said to the cloaked person as he got off and walked towards 7th Heaven. He opened the doors to be greeted by a big hug around the waist by Denzel and Marlene.

"Are you okay Cloud?" Marlene asked with a bit of worry in her voice.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Cloud answered back which calmed Marlene as she and Denzel released Cloud. Cloud kneeled down in front of them to let them know about what was about to happen.

"Listen, something came up so the others and me are going to be away for a while. We may be gone for a long time, but we'll be back as soon as we can." Cloud said to the children.

"Are you guys gonna fight?" Marlene asked.

"Yeah, probably." Cloud answered back.

"You guys are gonna come back right?" Denzel asked to Cloud.

"Yeah, you guys don't have to worry about a thing. While we're gone I told Rufus and the Turks to take care of you guys. They'll make sure you two are all right." Cloud said as he got up. The two nodded, indicating they trusted Cloud's judgement.

You go get those guys!" Denzel said to Cloud.

"Right, got ya." Cloud responded while ruffling Denzel's hair.

"The Turks will come to pick you guys up and take you somewhere safe. Make sure you guys close up the bar while we're gone." Cloud said. The children acknowledged Cloud's request with nods.

"Oh and one more thing." Cloud said. He whispered something into the the kids ears. They both nodded in agreement at what Cloud told them. With that, Cloud exited the bar and walked back to Fenrir. Cloud got on and rode off towards the area where he and the others fought the Bahamut SIN.

* * *

When Cloud reached where Bahamut SIN was fought, he saw the gang standing near where the Bahamut SIN's body resided. Cloud and the stranger got off Fenrir and walked up to the gang. They turned to see Cloud and the stranger walking towards them and walked over to them. "Hey where were you? I told you to stay put." Squall said to the cloaked stranger as he walked up to him.

"You know him?" Cloud asked as he turned to face Squall.

"Yeah. He says he's been secretly protecting you and Lightning for while now." Squall answered .

"Why have you you been doing that?" Lightning asked as she walked up next to Cloud.

"You'll find out in due time." the cloaked man answered. Squall just sighed in annoyance, not being able to understand that man at all.

"You said you know about what's going on. Care to tell us?" Cloud said to the cloaked man.

"Well, I'm sure you're familiar with the story from three thousand years ago." the cloaked man said.

"You mean about Balthazar and Astroth?" Lightning asked.

"Yes." the cloaked man answered.

"Who're they?" Rinoa asked.

"They're gods from about three thousand years ago." Cloud answered.

"So what's the big deal about it?" Barret asked.

"The big deal is that Astroth was evil and someone's trying to resurrect him. If they do, then every living thing is seriously screwed." Lightning answered. What Lightning said left everyone else in shock.

"Yes, and so to prevent that, I need the help of everyone." the cloaked man said.

"What do you want us to do?" Yuffie asked.

"I want you to find whoever's trying to bring back Astroth and stop them." the cloaked man answered.

"Any idea who it could be?" Tifa asked.

"I did some digging and found some info about a group on another continent who has something to do with Astroth. I want you guys to go there and find out what you can. You can stop them afterwards." the cloaked man answered. Cloud turned to face everyone and they nodded, telling Cloud they would help.

"Okay, we'll do it." Cloud said as he turned to the cloaked man.

"Meet me back here in three hours." the cloaked man said as he disappeared in a blue flash. Squall and Tidus nodded to each other and began walking off.

"Hey, where are you guys going?" Cloud asked.

"Gotta make a few calls." the two said at the same time as they walked off. Everyone else just shrugged as they all walked off in another direction. Barret walked up next to Cloud.

"So Cloud, who's this Lightnin' girl? She you're girlfriend?" Barret teased.

"No." Cloud answered as he punched Barret's arm before walking ahead of him.

"_Those two definitely have somethin' going on between 'em._" Barret thought as he saw Cloud's reaction.

* * *

**Three hours later**

Everyone returned to the spot where the cloaked man told them to be, and they were joined by their friends Yuna, Rikku, Paine, Zell, Irvine, Selphie, and Quistis. "Yay! Big brother Cloud's back!" Rikku squealed as she ran over and gave Cloud a bone crushing hug.

"We missed you Cloud." Yuna said as she also gave Cloud a bone crushing hug. Luckily Cloud is very strong and was able to endure the force of the hugs.

"I missed you guys to." Cloud said as he hugged both of them back.

"You should've called me earlier Squall, I've been itching to fight with you guys just like the old days!" Zell said as he practiced his punches and kicks against the air like he usually does.

"I'm sure we'll all get to see plenty of fights Zell." Quistis assured. Selphie looked over and noticed Lighting who she's never seen before.

"Hey Cloud, who's she?" Selphie asked pointing to Lightning.

"Her names's Lightning, but she prefers to be called Light. She's a friend." Cloud answered as Rikku and Yuna released him.

"Where're you from?" Rikku asked.

"Cocoon." Lightning answered.

"That's so cool, I've always wanted to go there!" Rikku squealed with delight.

"I've heard it's a pretty cool place." Paine said in her usual tone.

"So where's the guy who hired us?" Irvine asked.

Everyone looked around for the cloaked man, but he wasn't anywhere around. Then suddenly, a large wind started blowing against them and engine sounds were heard. Everyone looked up to see Cid's Shera ship descend from the sky. When it landed, the hatch opened up and everyone quickly boarded the ship. The Shera lifted back up into the air and flew off.

* * *

It didn't take very long for the party to reach their destination, the city of London, without having any problems. Along the way, Lightning got to know some of the others, and vise versa.

"That's where we're gonna start." the cloaked said as he pointed to a building not far from the ship. "Cloud, you and Squall go check it out." the cloaked man said. The two nodded and walked forward. The cloaked man snapped his fingers and in a flash, Cloud and Squall disappeared in a blue light.

Cloud and Squall appeared in front of the buildings doors. They crept up to the doors to see two people in the room. One was a man wearing grayish hair with cowboy like clothes, and a rapier, while the other was a woman wearing a brown jacket with a red shirt underneath, camo pants, and black heavy boots. On her right arm was a large tattoo of many images like those in ancient Asian artwork, and she was holding a single edged Chinese styled sword in her right hand with two pistols holstered in a gun belt her waist.

The man swung at the woman, but she brought her sword up and blocked the attack before kicking him back in the stomach. The man stumbled back before stopping himself. He quickly drew a second rapier from a sheath strapped to his leg. He quickly stabbed five times, but the woman either blocked, or dodged the attacks. He tried to stab one more time so the woman retaliated by dodging to the right and using the opening to slice the side of his abdomen. The man turned to face the woman, only to see her quickly pull out one of her pistols and fire a shot at him. The man deflected the bullet before dropping one of his swords and placing his hand against his stomach wound.

The man quickly swung his hand and flung his blood at the woman who ducked under the flying crimson liquid. Unfortunately, she was too distracted and the man quickly grabbed his sword and ran over to the woman before stabbing his sword right into her gut. The woman grunted from the pain, but ignored it and pushed the man back which caused him to pull his sword out as well. " We'll meet again someday. Auf Wiedersehen." the man said as he turned and jumped and smashed through a window making his escape. The woman tried to go after him, but she collapsed on the floor from her wound.

Cloud and Squall quickly burst into the room and ran to the collapsed woman's side. "Is she alright?" Cloud asked Squall as Squall slowly and carefully turned her over. She was unconscious and was bleeding profusely from her stab wound.

"She needs medical attention quick." Squall answered. Squall carefully picked up the woman so he wouldn't make things worse for her. The two quickly rushed out of the building and were suddenly teleported by the cloaked man's power back into the ship.

"What happened?" the cloaked man asked when he saw the wounded woman in Squall's arms.

"She was hurt badly by some weird guy. She needs medical help now. " Squall answered.

"I know a guy who can help. Head that way." the cloaked man said as he pointed eastward.

"You got it son." Cid said as he flew the ship in the direction the cloaked man was pointing towards. Cid managed to find the place three minutes later with the cloaked mans directions. Cid landed the ship in front of a building as directed. Everyone quickly exited the ship and ran up to the front of the building. The cloaked man walked up and knocked on the door. The door opened up to reveal a man on the other side.

"Oh it's you. What can I help you with this time?" the man asked with a Scotish accent.

"We've got trouble Milo." the cloaked man said as he pointed to the unconscious, wounded woman in Squall's arms.

"What in bloody hell happened to Rubi?!" Milo said in shock.

"She was hurt badly, end of story." Paine answered quickly.

"Hurry and get her inside." Milo said as he opened the door for everyone.

"Bring her this way." Milo said as he led Squall to another room. It wasn't long before Milo exited the room with Squall.

"No worries, Rubi's gonna be fine." Milo said to everyone.

"So how long before she wakes up?" Squall asked Milo.

"I'd say almost a week." Milo answered.

"So you two, tell us more about what happened." the cloaked man said to Cloud and Squall.

* * *

As Rubi lay in pain from the pain her wound still left on her, she was remembering everything that happened to her up to this point.

* * *

(Flashback: _Chinatown, One Year Ago_)

_One year ago, Rubi was hired by a man named Trevor Ackers to retrieve a heart that would save his fathers life in exchange for a large payment. Rubi was kneeling on a dragon statue on the roof of a building, observing an exchange going on inside the building. In the middle of the large decorated room were two men, one of which was wheelchair bound and had an electric voice box. Both of them had their bodyguards around them. "Let's do this, don't wanna keep the old man waiting." the man on the right said._

_"I was told Mr. Ackers was sending a woman." the wheelchair man said._

_"Change of plans. Last minute. Had to send me instead." the other man said._

_"And you are?" the wheelchair man asked._

_"Name's Simmons." the man answered._

_"Well, Simmons. I don't like change. If this were any other situation, any other trade off, my instincts would be to walk the f*** out the door and scrap this deal. the wheelchair man said._

_"Relax. I'm just here to do business for Mr. Ackers." Simmons said as one of his bodyguards placed a metal suitcase on the table._

_"That the cash?" the wheelchair man asked._

_"Yeah. Now are we gonna do this? You know as well as I do that what you have in the case doesn't have that long of a shelf-life." Simmons said._

_"Alright. Let's get it done." the wheelchair man said to one of his bodyguards. The bodyguard picked up their smaller metal case with a red circle and four red lines coming out of it, and placed it on Simmons side of the table. Simmons grabbed his case and turned it over and opened it._

_"Your instincts? You should trust them more often." Simmons said before quickly pulling out a pistol and pointing it at the wheelchair man and firing. The wheelchair mans eyes went wide before being killed as the bullet went into his head. A gun fight quickly broke out between the bodyguards which ended with all of Simmons killing the others. Rubi observed the chaos that just occurred and decided it was time to get to work._

_"That piece of shit has my case." Rubi said as she saw Simmons pick up the other case, which was her objective, while the bodyguards were fighting. Rubi reached and pulled out her custom pistols from their holsters. "Here we go." Rubi said as she leaped off the statue towards the skylight of the building. She fired two shots from her pistols which cracked the glass before crashing through it and landing on one of the tables in the room. She quickly dived off the table and fired shots while in the air, killing a few of Simmons body guards._

_One guard ran towards Rubi while firing his pistol at her. Rubi placed one of her pistols in its holster before drawing her sword. She jumped towards the guard, over his shots, and sliced the mans throat, killing him instantly. Rubi quickly turned and fired three more shots from one of her pistols, killing three more body guards. One got close to Rubi and tried to hit her with his gun, but Rubi ducked under the attack and slashed as she rose up, slicing off the mans arm before shooting him in the head._

_Now all the bodyguards in the room were killed. Simmons, hiding under a table, saw Rubi kill all of his bodyguard, so when Rub wasn't looking he made a break for the exit. He quickly burst through the doors with Rubi tailing him when she noticed him. Simmons reached a courtyard like section of the building before fleeing into another section with two guards behind him. As soon as Rubi came through the doors, the guards fired their pistols at her. Rubi jumped over the shots before taking out her pistols and firing shots of hers back, killing the guards as her bullets went into their heads. As Rubi approached the section Simmons went into, two more guards approached which Rubi easily took care of with her pistols._

_After walking through a small hallway with a left and right turn, Rubi reached two doors which were locked. She quickly drew her sword and shoved it in between the doors and pulled very hard. With enough strength, Rubi pulled on of the doors open and sheathed her sword before walking through. As soon as she exited the door, she found herself on the outside with four guards in front of her. Three with bats, and one with a pistol. Rubi looked to the left to see Simmons with another guard climbing down a ladder on the building next to hers._

_One of the guards ran over and swung his bat at Rubi. Rubi jumped over the swing and over the two other guards as well. As soon as she landed, the other guards turned and ran towards Rubi. Rubi quickly ran up the wall she was facing before jumping off the wall and drawing her sword. She swung down hard as she flew towards the guards and cut one of them down. Another swung his bat at her, but she ducked under the strike before rising up and slicing the man down._

_Another guard with a bat ran towards Rubi and swung horizontally, so Rubi retaliated by jumping over the strike and planting her feet on the mans chest. She quickly pushed herself off him, causing him to stumble back as Rubi came down with her sword and quickly cut him down. The last guard took some steps back in fear, but Rubi didn't care. She leaped towards the man and swung her sword, slicing his throat. With that done, Rubi sheathed her sword and kicked a stack of boxes out of the way to reveal a ladder at the edge of the roof. Rubi looked down and noticed two guards on the ground below. Rubi quickly hopped on the ladder which prompted the guards to begin firing at her._

_Rubi wrapped her legs around the ladder before using her hands to pull out her pistols. She flipped upside down and slid down the ladder while firing shots at the guards below. After a few shots from both guns, Rubi killed the two guards below. When almost at the bottom, Rubi pushed herself off the ladder and flipped to land on her feet. She ran over and used a side of a box as a ramp and jumped all the way to the next building over. There were two more guards on the building which Rubi easily gunned down before moving to the edge of the building._

_Rubi looked to the left of the next building to see Simmons on the higher part of the building. He kicked down the ladder he used to prevent Rubi from pursuing him. This didn't stop Rubi though as she jumped off the edge of the building and landed perfectly on the other one. She quickly ran up the wall and reached the edge of the higher floor with a leap. While she climbed up, the door to her right opened to reveal a guard with a bat. Rubi quickly pulled herself onto the building before quickly pulling out a pistol and shooting the man, spraying some of his blood on the door._

_Rubi quickly repeated the process and wall ran up the wall before leaping, grabbing the edge, and pulling herself up. Rubi quickly ran along the wall to the section of the building Simmons was running towards. As she was wall running, two more guards appeared and fired their guns at her. Luckily for Rubi, an oil barrel was close to the guards. She quickly fired a shot from her pistol which hit the barrel right in the middle. The result was a large explosion which instantly killed the two guards. Rubi jumped off the wall and landed on the ground where the explosion was before proceeding._

_When she turned the corner, Rubi noticed a ramp in front of her as well as two horizontal poles. Rubi ran up and leaped off the ramp and grabbed onto the first pole. She did a complete three-sixty degree flip before letting go at the right time and flying towards the second pole. After grabbing onto it, two guards came out of the door in the building below. Rubi quickly did one more complete flip before letting go, and flying towards the building. As she flew, Rubi pulled out her pistols and fired shots at the guards, who were killed quickly._

_Rubi landed on the building and turned right to see a large pipe blocking her way. Rubi ran towards it before sliding on her knees, perfectly going under the pipe before going off the edge. Rubi quickly turned and grabbed hold of the edge before letting go and landing nicely on the ground. Now there was a large water barrel in her way. Rubi quickly ran and slid under that, but while sliding, noticed the feet of a guard of Simmons. Rubi quickly drew her sword when she came out and when the guard tried to retaliate, Rubi instantly killed him with one strike. She turned left at the corner to see a gate blocking her way. Rubi quickly shoved her sword in the doors opening part and with much pulling force, forced the door open._

_Rubi turned right to see she was in a large courtyard-like place with a fountain and such. She looked to see Simmons running through the entrance to the building across. After crossing the entrance, two black vans pulled up and formed a line, blocking Rubi from reaching the building. "Damn it, I don't have time for this bullshit!" Rubi angrily muttered as she looked above her head to see a rope that led to the bottom. Rubi jumped up and placed part of her swords guard over the rope. She slid down the rope on her sword to see the place filled with guards._

_Rubi landed on the ground which prompted all the guards to pull their guns out and fire at Rubi. Rubi quickly dived out of the way, sheathing her sword and drawing her pistols in midair, and firing a few shots, taking out three guards. One guard came over and attempted to punch Rubi, so Rubi ducked under the strike and gun butted the guard in the face before shooting him at point-blank. Rubi turned to see another black van back up and burst through a gate. The back doors opened and two more guards stepped out with their pistols pointed at Rubi._

_Two more guards burst through a door to Rubi's left. They all fired at Rubi all at once. Rubi quickly jumped backwards and fired shots back which took out two guards instantly. "Is this your first time in a gunfight?" Rubi taunted the guards which prompted them to shoot back at her. Rubi smirked as she ducked under the shots and fired two more shots which killed the guards instantly. Rubi noticed a switch on the platform above the door. She quickly fired a shot which hit the panel and caused a metal door to slided down and blocked the door._

_Rubi turned and ran to the top of the stairs on the left. She jumped forward, grabbed a pole, and jumped to another platform. Rubi holstered one pistol and drew her sword. She flew down and cut down the guard with ease before slicing the panel an blocking the second door. Rubi leaped off the platform towards the fountain while firing shots and killing guards beneath her. She landed on the top of the fountain before taking a few more steps and leaping for the platform across. Rubi fired a shot which went right into the guards head as she flew towards the platform._

_She grabbed the edge of the platform and climbed up before slicing the last panel and stopping anymore guards from coming in. Rubi quickly jumped off the platform and landed at the entrance of the courtyard. The guards in the vans quickly drove away in fear of being killed. Rubi quickly crossed the street and entered the building Simmons went into._

_______

* * *

After reaching the top of the building, Rubi went to the edge to see Simmons far down the street on his cell phone. "You can't get good help I swear to god!" he said into the phone as he walked away. Rubi hopped over the edge of the building and hung on before leaping off and grabbing a pole. She flipped off it and killed a stationed guard on the building ahead of her while in midair. She grabbed onto the ledge and quickly climbed onto the building. She ran to the porch and climbed over the edge before leaping to the porch across._

_A guard fired his pistol at her, though Rubi easily deflected the bullets with her sword before cutting the man down. She climbed over the edge of that porch and jumped to the next two more times before reaching the last one which had a rope on it. She used her sword as a glider to reach the porch across hers, killing a guard with her free hand while doing so. She repeated the process to another porch, killing another guard, and then dropping down to a porch closer to the ground._

_Rubi leaped off the porch while firing her guns at guards, killing them instantly. When she landed on the ground, she noticed a black car in front of her. The car suddenly turned on and drove towards Rubi. Rubi turned around and ran in the same direction. She quickly jumped into an empty cart and fired her guns at the car as the cart rolled backwards. The continuous shots caused the car to explode and fly towards Rubi. Rubi quickly leaped out of the cart and over the flaming car as it flew by._

_Rubi landed on the ground and the car crashed into the ground before completely blowing up. "See ya!" Rubi said as she continued in the direction Simmons was heading in, only for a few guards to approach. Rubi, wanting to speed things up, pulled out her sub machine guns and fired rapid shots at the guards, taking them down with many bullets. After finishing them, she ran down an alley which led to a gate with a blocked door. Rubi improvised and ran up the gate and grabbing the top before pulling herself over._

_Now in an alleyway, a truck drove away to reveal a two guards headed for her. Rubi quickly whipped out her sub machine guns and took them both down easily. Since the way was blocked, Rubi entered the building to her left which contained large blocks of ice. Five guards appeared and fired their guns at her. Rubi quickly dived out of the way while taking out her pistols and firing a few shots. The guards tried to dodge, but one of them got taken down. While one of the guards was distracted, Rubi quickly ran over and cut him down with her sword before firing her pistol, killing another one._

_Another guard came out from behind a hanging block of ice, and fired his gun at Rubi. Rubi jumped over the shots towards him. She slashed her sword which cut through the ice and sliced the mans throat. Rubi killed the last two guards with her pistols as she walked towards the door. She tried opening it, but the door was locked, so Rubi shoved her sword into the door and forced it open. After exiting the building, Rubi ran to the end of the street and turned left to the next to see a large motel in front of her. At the top floor on his cell phone was Simmons._

_Rubi quickly took out her pistols and fired shots at Simmons who hid behind a pillar. Some of Simmons guards suddenly came running towards Rubi. Two in front and one to the right. Rubi quickly jumped back and avoided their gunfire before taking out a pistol in one hand and her crossbow in the other. While in the air, Rubi fired shots at the one to her right, easily killing him before turning her attention to the guards in front of her. She fired a shots from her crossbow which flew right in the space between the two guards. The shot exploded on impact with the ground and took out the two guards coming her way._

_Rubi looked around to see if there was something that could help her reach the floor Simmons was on. Looking to her right, she spotted a ladder and quickly climbed to the top. She ran across the catwalk to see guards on the top floor firing shots at her. Rubi dodged the shots while moving to the end of the catwalk. Rubi quickly pulled out her sword and used it to glide along a rope while firing shots from her pistols at the guards. it was a bit difficult with the pillars in the way, but Rubi managed to kill all the guards. She landed on the porch of a building before running and leaping off the edge to the Motel. Rubi grabbed the ledge and pulled herself up. She entered the building through an open window, only to find a guard waiting for her. He quickly threw his fist at Rubi who ducked under the attack and stabbed the man through the chest._

_Rubi removed ans sheathed her sword before exiting the room into the hallway. Rubi went to the right and ran down hte large hallway, only to see guards bursting out of rooms and pointing their guns at her. Rubi pulled out her pistols and killed the guards as she ran by while ducking under, and dodging their bullets. Rubi turned left at the end of the hallway and ran up the stairs to the next floor. Rubi saw more guards coming her way. Rubi unsheathed her sword and sliced one of the guards, instantly killing him. "Come on boys you're boring me." Rubi taunted._

_A guard ran towards her and was about to punch her, but Rubi pulled out one of her dual shotguns and fired a point-blank shot, killing the man. "Damn I'm good." Rubi complimented herself. One guard came charging in with a pistol, so Rubi countered by sliding on her knees and firing shots from her shotgun, taking down the guard quickly. Two more guards came and fired shots at Rubi which all missed._

_"You guys check your vision lately?" Rubi taunted them as she switched her shotgun for one of her sub machine guns and shot the guards down. Rubi quickly ran up the stairs to the next floor, but when she was about to reach the door to the next floor, she saw Simmons shutting the door behind him and locking it. Rubi quickly forced the door open with her sword and went after Simmons. Rubi quickly ran in the same direction Simmons was to find herself outside and on the roof of the motel._

_Rubi looked down to see Simmons on the ground running through a gate and shutting the door behind him before running off. Rubi noticed the ground below with a bunch of guards on it. Rubi quickly wrapped her legs around the ladder in front of her and slid down by her legs while firing shots from her pistols at the guards below. She killed three of them before flipping off the ladder and seeing guards starting to fill the area. "Why bother? You guys are already dead." Rubi said to all the guards._

_The guards charged at Rubi all at once in response. Rubi jumped towards a group and gunned down most of them with her pistols. She landed before firing another shot at a guard with a bat, nailing him right in the head. A group surrounded and closed in on Rubi, but she switched her pistols for her sub machine guns and began firing shots at the guards around her. She took out a large group, but one managed to get passed her shots. When he attempted to strike Rubi with his bat, Rubi threw one of her sub machine guns into the air before unsheathing her sword and dodging the strike before cutting the man down._

_Rubi sheathed her sword before catching her sub machine gun in her hand. Rubi quickly switched out one of her sub machine guns for her crossbow and started taking out guards at a long range. After two more minutes passed, Rubi left the area with corpses and blood stains everywhere. Rubi quickly opened the gate Simmons through and ran down the alley, before taking out a guard with the crossbow. Another came at her, only to be killed by Rubi's pistol. After that was all done, Rubi entered the elevator ahead to follow Simmons._

_After reaching the bottom, Rubi looked to see Simmons holding the case he stole while with some other guys. Two guards suddenly appeared and attacked Rubi which made her retaliate. Simmons and the others turned to see Rubi fighting with the guards. She kneed one of them and knocked him out before turning to face the other guard. She ducked under his two punches before punching him once in the stomach and then again across the face, knocking him out as well._

_The man Simmons was talking with and his guards pointed their guns at Rubi as Simmons ran off with the case. Rubi fired shots at a car which caused it to explode and kill some of the guards. The guards rained heavy fire on Rubi which she easily dodged. Rubi leaped through the air and fired shots which killed a few guards before landing on the other side of a car. Rubi quickly came sliding out and fired more shots at guards and taking them out. Rubi ran towards one guard and cut him down before turning and shooting another. Rubi leaped towards one of the few guards left and cut his throat in midair while firing her crossbow at the remaining guards, killing them all._

_With no more guards left, Rubi ran towards the exit. After exiting, she looked over the edge to the ground to see Simmons getting into his car and speeding off. Rubi noticed an approaching trolley, so she jumped off the building at the right moment and landed on the top of the trolley. She then jumped and grabbed onto the back part of a large truck which was heading in the same direction at a faster speed._

_______

* * *

Simmons was tearing through traffic on the freeway at high speed with his guards driving black vehicles behind his. The truck Rubi was holding onto was getting close to one of the guards vehicles. One looked in his side view mirror to see Rubi hanging onto the truck behind them. The driver moved the car back next to the truck before ramming it and causing the truck to lose control and spin onto its side. As it was about to hit the road, Rubi took the opportunity to jump off the truck towards the guards car. One guard was on the sticking on the outside of the car with his gun pointed at Rubi, but Rubi was quicker and quickly unsheathed her sword before slicing the mans throat._

_Rubi began car surfing on the car as another black car pulled up a bit ahead of the one she was riding on. A guard was sticking out the side and firing his gun at Rubi who dodged the bullets. She quickly hopped to another car next to hers as the car she was riding on crashed into another car. As Rubi was flying through the air, she killed the guard that was firing at her. A second guard stuck himself out a window and began firing shots at Rubi, who made quick work of him with her pistol. The other car disappeared on the other side of a semi truck before slamming into a car which crashed and was about to hit Rubi's. Luckily the driver pulled away in time._

_The car Rubi was on crashed into a car in front of it, so Rubi quickly hopped off the car and ran along side of a semi truck's trailer before leaping off and landing on another car. The driver of the car she was riding on tried to shake her off, but ended up crashing into the railing and wiping out. Rubi flew towards the ca next to her, noticing a guard attempting to shoot her with a sub machine gun. As soon as Rubi landed on the car, she took out her sword and sliced both of the guards arms off before kicking him out of the car and sending him rolling into traffic._

_Rubi killed two more guards sticking out the car windows before seeing a semi truck carrying two cars up ahead. Rubi jumped off the car she was on, all the way over the trailer of the semi, and landed safely on the car on the other side as the previous car crashed into one driving ahead of it. After killing a few more guards, Rubi jumped off her car which was about to crash all the way over to another. After seeing her car about to crash, again, Rubi jumped off it and landed on the side of a normal car before jumping off that one and landing on another black car while narrowly avoiding a rolling car._

_Up ahead, a black van pulled up next to a semi truck. A guard opened the door and fired a few shots from an assault rifle into the trucks tires, causing the truck to lose control. They sped away as the truck began turning towards Rubi. When the time was just right, Rubi jumped off the car and wall ran on the trucks trailer before jumping towards another black car. A guard attempted to shoot her, but Rubi quickly threw her sword right into the mans chest before ripping it out and causing him to fall out onto the road._

_Rubi jumped to another car as the one she was on sped up too much and hit the car in front of it. "Damn, these guys can't drive for shit!" Rubi thought as she flew towards another car. A car on the side of that one had two guards sticking out of it with their guns pointed at Rubi. Rubi made quick work of them with her sub machine guns. Her gunfire also caused the car to crash. Rubi looked ahead to see Simmons car just ahead. A black car and a black van suddenly pulled up and guards fired their guns at her. Rubi used her crossbow to destroy their vehicles tires and cause the cars to crash._

_Rubi began hopping off cars and getting closer to Simmons, causing many crashes and explosions to occur. With one final jump, Rubi made it to Simmons car. Simmons was standing through the sunroof with his gun out, but Rubi grabbed the gun and began hitting him with her free hand. Simmons quickly pulled back and steered the car away from traffic. When they pulled up next to a semi truck, Rubi went into the car and pulled out the case Simmons stole before shooting Simmons car and jumping off._

_The shot from Rubi's gun caused Simmons car to lose control and do a series of barrel rolls. Rubi braced herself as she hit the windshield of the semi which scared the driver and caused him to stop the truck. Rubi hopped down and walked over to Simmons who was now sitting in pain in front of his damaged car. "Help me, help me. You've gotta help me. I can't feel my legs! Aaw F*** I CAN'T FEEL MY LEGS!" Simmons shouted as he felt his legs and felt nothing._

_He was about to smoke a cigar, but Rubi took the lighter from his hand and knocked the cigar out of his mouth before walking away. "You bitch! You f***ing bitch! You're gonna leave me?! "YOU F***ING BITCH!" Simmons shouted at Rubi, but Rubi stopped in her tracks and lit the lighter._

_"You should've stopped at I can't feel my legs." Rubi said before tossing the lighter and walking away. Simmons eyes widened when he saw the lighter land in s trail of fluid leaking from his car. A fire started which engulfed the car and Simmons before the car exploded, killing Simmons as well. Rubi walked off towards the city's hospital._

___

* * *

Rubi entered the hospital and entered the room where the person who hired her was waiting. After bursting through the doors, Rubi began beating the guards in her way, but stopped when they managed to point their machine guns at her. "Call off your dogs." Rubi said to the man sitting in the chair to her right._

_"She's okay. Tell him its arrived." Trevor Ackers said to the nurse in front of him. The nurse paged the doctor who entered the room a few seconds later. Rubi handed him the case she stole back from Simmons. The doctor opened it to reveal it had a human heart inside it._

_"This heart will save your fathers life . He wouldn't survive the night without it. Look, don't worry. We'll keep you updated of your fathers progress." the doctor said before exiting the room._

_"My fathers enemies, my enemies, want him dead. It's because of you he'll live. Thank you." Trevor said to Rubi._

_"And there's the matter of my payment." Rubi said back._

_"Yes, of course." Trevor said as he got up with a metal suit case in his hands. He gave one of his guards the case so he could open it. When he did it revealed a large sum of money in the case. "The amount we agreed upon." _

_Rubi closed and took the case before walking out the door._

_______

* * *

(One Year Later_)

_After Rubi was finished training at her home in Texas, she was approached by a healthy Willaim Ackers and his bodyguards, Ze Kollektor and Tarantula. Ackers explained that his son Trevor had moved to Hong Kong, and had fallen in with a drug-dealing gang. Rubi agreed to travel to Hong Kong and abduct Trevor, returning him to his father for a large reward. Rubi met with Ming, her Chinese contact, who directed Rubi to interrogate Rat Boy, a member of Trevor's gang. After battling through Rat Boy's hideout, Rubi learned from him that Trevor is at a payoff on the Parade Route. Rubi located the meeting place, and chased Trevor through the streets. Once Trevor was incapacitated, Ming arrived and Rubi hid the unconscious body in the car. After arriving at the airport, Ackers' men took Trevor aboard a plane to London._

_In London, Rubi went to a meeting place with Ackers, and hands Trevor over to him. As she was leaving, Ackers ordered Tarantula to kill Trevor, and the guards held a confused Rubi at gunpoint while Ackers left. Rubi engaged in a sword fight with Ze Kollektor, and eventually was stabbed in the gut, causing her to pass out as Ze Kollektor escaped. Rubi remembered that just before she was about to lose consciousness, she saw two men burst into the room to see if she was alright._

___

* * *

_(_End of flashback. Back to the present.)_

_______"Why does all the weird stuff happen to me?" _Rubi thought to herself as she went unconscious again.

___

* * *

AN: I added WET in here because I figured Rubi would make a good addition to the Final Fantasy gang and the story of the game would make this story more interesting. If anyone was wondering why I made the One Year Ago flashback so long it was because for those who don't know WET or haven't played it, I wanted to give a demonstration of what Rubi could do._

_Read & Review. Your support is very appreciated._


	11. The Prince of Darkness

Christmas Update. Merry Christmas everyone.

AN: I'm gonna start calling Red XIII Nanaki. I forgot that was his real name. I'm also going to disclaimer Rinoa's weapons. They were created by Monty Oum for his Dead Fantasy videos so they belong to him.

* * *

"Interesting." the cloaked man said as he and the others wondered about what Cloud and Squall just told them.

"Think there's a connection?" Cloud wondered.

"It's possible." the cloaked man said.

"That's not enough to go on." Quistis said.

"Did you two see anything on their clothing that seemed strange?" the cloaked man asked. The two thought back and remembered there was something strange about the clothes.

"Actually there was something weird. Somewhere on all their clothes was a black, jagged letter 'A'." Squall answered.

"It's as I feared. It's the Acolytes." the cloaked man said.

"Aco-what's?" a confused Zell said.

"The Acolytes. They're a group of Astroth worshippers who are bent on bringing him back. They've existed since the ancient times." the cloaked man said.

"It sounds like they haven't gotten anywhere close to their goal." Nanaki inquired.

"No, they haven't. I've been observing them for a while now and from the shadows. They're still searching hard for a way to achieve their goal." the cloaked man added in. Lightning suddenly remembered what Rufus told her and Cloud back at the Healin Lodge.

"Do the Heaven and Hell Blades have something to do with this?" Lightning asked.

"They might. It's possible those two swords are the keys to the Acolytes goal. If that proves to be true, then you must stop them before they can get their hands on the swords." the cloaked man said.

"How can we stop them if we don't even know where they are?" Yuna asked. As soon as those words were said, a large and loud explosion suddenly erupted outside.

"Looks like they've already found us." Genesis said.

Cloud ran outside to check things out with Squall and Tidus right behind him. When they exited the building, they were shocked to see a half circle of fire surrounding the out side of the building. "What the hell happened?" Tidus wondered as he watched the flames burn. Suddenly, a blue lightning bolt came flying through the fire wall and flew straight for the three. Squall quickly drew Revolver and swung down, destroying the lightning bolt with ease.

"Who's there?!" Squall shouted out. Long spears of ice then came raining down on the three. They quickly jumped out of the way as the ice spears pierced into where they were previously standing. Then something strange happened. The half circle of fire moved forwards and became a full circle of fire while blocking the way to the building. Cloud and Tidus drew their swords, ready for any more attacks that might come their way. From the left of the fire circle gunshots were fired.

The three turned to see three fire covered bullets fly through the fire circle and towards them. Cloud used First Tsurugi as a shield and easily blocked the three bullets. A rock spike suddenly came flying through the fire circle towards Tidus. Tidus swung down Brotherhood and easily cut through the spike. Just when it seemed like things couldn't get any worse, a strong wind blew passed the three. A small cut appeared on Cloud's right cheek from the fierceness of the wind. "Alright that's it I've had enough!" Cloud used Blade Beam and sent a blue blast of energy at the fire circle.

The blast exploded on impact with the fire circle and the entire circle was destroyed. Everyone came running outside immediately afterwards. "Cloud, what's going on?" Tifa asked.

"Get ready, they're coming!" Cloud alerted. Everyone quickly drew their weapons, ready for what Cloud warned them about. Yellow lightning bolts flashed around a large dark cloud in the sky before striking down towards the party with extreme speed.

"Heads up!" Barret called out in which the party jumped out of the way of the lightning bolts. After landing on the ground Genesis quickly charged orange energy into his left hand. He swung his arm twice and sent a series of fireballs into the sky. When they all flew passed the cloud the lightning bolts came from, Genesis closed his hand with a swift movement of his arm. The flying fireballs turned around and flew towards the cloud. The fireballs all crashed into the cloud simultaneously, causing a series of small explosions, before erupting into one large explosion which formed into a giant fireball.

Genesis then charged white energy into his hand and fired a large white energy blast at the fireball explosion. The second the blast made contact with the fireball explosion, there was an even more massive explosion of white energy. Cloud and the others could do nothing but stare in aw at Genesis's raw power. It wasn't a surprise to Cloud that Genesis used to be a SOLDIER First Class. "Did you get them?" Rinoa asked,

"I don't know, but I doubt it." Genesis replied as he watched the light from the explosion fade and the sky clear up. Suddenly, human shaped beings flew down from the sky. They landed around the party and on buildings around them. The beings were wearing silver suits of armor with red short sleeve cloaks that went halfway to their knees. Their heads were exposed under their hoods, which revealed them as black humanoid creatures with red glowing eyes, and fangs. On the chest part of all the creatures cloaks was a black jagged letter 'A'.

"So these guys Acolytes?" Squall wondered as he sheathed Revolver on his back and drew Lion Heart.

"Looks like they're just grunts." Lightning said.

"Whatever, let's just take em' out!" Zell excitingly exclaimed as he got in his battle stance. The Acolytes jumped and lunged towards the gang all at once. Everyone jumped out of the way of the Acolytes. While in the air, two Acolytes came flying towards Tidus. He easily cut down one before drop kicking the other one away. Squall appeared behind the flying one and swung Lion Heart, easily slicing the Acolyte in half horizontally. He turned around and launched a Fira spell, incinerating another.

One Acolyte lunged and swung its claws at Tifa. She ducked under the strike and swung her fist right at the Acolytes stomach. Her punch broke through the armor and sent the Acolyte flying. Tifa turned around and uppercutted another Acolyte into the air. Rinoa cast a Blizzara and froze the Acolyte in midair. The frozen Acolyte fell to the ground and shattered into pieces on impact. Rinoa swung Vanishing Star around and chopped down another Acolyte.

With very swift movements, Lightning sliced down three Acolytes before knocking another one high into the air. She jumped up after it and slashed it three times, killing it quickly. Another Acolyte flew in and swung its claws at Lightning. She dodged the attack and planted her feet on the Acolyte before pushing off it, sending it flying. While in the air, Lightning switched Blaze Edge into its gun mode and fired a shot which perfectly pierced through the Acolytes head. Several more Acolytes magically summoned broadswords and charged at Cloud.

Cloud deflected one strike and slashed one down before stabbing forward and killing another one. Cloud then activated Cross-Slash and took down three more Acolytes. One Acolyte got behind Cloud and swung its sword at him. Cloud sensed this and disconnected a Back Blade from First Tsurugi. He brought the sword behind him and blocked the Acolytes attack while blocking another Acolytes sword in the front. Cloud swung with all his might and broke through the two Acolytes swords before slicing them down.

Nanaki slashed one Acolyte at its neck with his claws before using Sled Fang and taking down another. One Acolyte swung its sword and him, but he just jumped over the strike an kicked the Acolyte with his back legs, causing it to stumble. Genesis came up from behind and stabbed the Acolyte through the back. He quickly ripped the sword out to block the attack of another Acolyte that came from behind. Genesis pushed the Acolyte back and sliced it down. One Acolyte launched a ball of energy at Genesis who jumped back as it hit the spot in front of him. When the ball connected, the ball exploded in a large flash of light which blinded Genesis.

When Genesis regained his vision, a large group of Acolytes piled on top of him. At first it seemed like they had him pinned down completely, when suddenly the pile of Acolytes began shifting until the entire pile was blown into the air. Genesis emerged from beneath with his wing out. He launched a blast from his hand which sent a large Acolytes flying from the explosion. Barret, Irvine, and Vincent began rapidly shooting down the flying Acolytes with their guns as they were flying in the air.

Quistis brought her whip down which took out several Acolytes because of its length. A group charged at Zell, who retaliated with a large series of punches and kicks which left them all on the ground in pain. One lunged towards Zell, whose guard was down. Selphie managed to get in between in time and gracefully beat the Acolyte with her nunchaku.

A few Acolytes charged at them, but Rikku got in front of them and cut them down with her two blades before changing into her Warrior Dressphere and cutting down several with her sword. Paine came in and cut down two more attempting a sneak attack on Rikku, and Yuna shot down three more attempting an aerial attack on the girls. Suddenly, a very large and muscular Acolyte dressed in large spiked armor appeared from the sky and brought its fist down on the girls. With not enough time to evade, the girls thought they were gonna die, but Tidus suddenly appeared in front of the Acolytes fist and shoved the entire blade of Brotherhood into the Acolytes fist.

The giant Acolyte roared in pain as Tidus ripped Brotherhood out and the giant Acolyte fell backwards onto the ground while grasping its fist in pain. "You girls okay?" Tidus asked.

"Yeah." The girls nodded. Just then, five Acolytes managed to slip through.

"Get the woman!" the one in front ordered as he and the other four Acolytes charged towards the building Rubi was recovering in.

"No you don't!" Yuffie and Cid appeared in front of the Acolytes and effortlessly cut them down. Seeing as it was obviously a losing battle, the rest of the Acolytes that were left all retreated.

"So what was that about?" Zell wondered as he stretched his arms out.

"I think they were here for that Rubi woman." Nanaki inquired.

"I think we should get her out of here. If we leave her here they'll just come back again." Cloud said.

"Good idea." Quistis agreed.

* * *

The gang took Rubi and placed her in the resting area of the Shera as they flew out of the city. "Well, that was a waste of time." Squall said somewhat frustrated.

"But it's a good thing we went. If we didn't, Rubi would be dead." Rinoa replied.

"Yeah, you're right." Squall agreed, calming down.

"So dude, where to now?" Zell asked the cloaked man.

"I've heard that there's been some activity happening in a city not too far from here. There have been Astroth worshippers raging all about, but then ending up dead. I think that sounds like a good place to search." the cloaked man said.

"This next one better not be another waste of time." Cloud said as Cid flew the ship off towards the city the cloaked man mentioned.

* * *

When the gang arrived at the city, they were shocked to see it was very lit up. "This place is amazing." Selphie said as she look around at the lit up buildings. The cloaked man had Cid land near a large building. The cloaked man led Cloud, Lightning, Squall, and Rinoa to the top of a building near the castle, but they heard gun shots along the way. When they reached the top of the building, they saw several guards in black suits lying dead on the stairs in front of the building, with an army of soldiers, wearing silver armor, and carrying assault rifles standing in front of the building. "How horrible." Rinoa said in shock at seeing the dead guards. Squall turned her head away so she wouldn't have to look at such a horrific sight. The sight before Cloud made him think back to the Nibelheim incident with Sephiroth, and it reminded Lightning of the vision she had.

Lightning looked noticed the soldiers armor were standing outside the castle as if they were waiting for something.

"These must be the soldiers that come nightly and are slaughtered." the cloaked man said.

"But why?" Cloud asked.

"My guess is they're looking for something here. Something important." the cloaked man answered.

"So how do they end up getting killed?" Squall asked. Suddenly, lightning flashed in the sky as a strong power could be felt coming from the building. Everyone turned their attention to the building to see what the surge of power was. They could feel it coming closer and closer with each passing second. That's when out of the darkness stepped the person who the power was radiating from. He was a young man dressed in all black clothing with raven black hair.

As he stopped at the top of the first flight of stairs, he looked around to see all his guards were killed, and stared out in front to see the army of armored soldiers out in front of his building. As soon as the young man took a step towards the soldiers, they all raised their guns at him. "We have to help him!" Rinoa said as she was about to jump down, but the cloaked man stopped her.

"But!"

"He's obviously the one whose been killing the soldiers in this city. I think he can handle this alone." the cloaked man said as he held Rinoa back. Everyone looked back to see the soldiers opened fire on the young man. For the first few seconds the shots only missed and hit the stairs, but eventually the bullets flew straight for him. As soon as they would've made contact, there was a flash of white and a translucent object in the shaped of a sword blocked the bullet.

"What was that?" Lightning wondered. The young man continued walking towards the firing soldiers as the mysterious weapons shaped objects shielded him from the incoming bullets. As soon as he reached the second flight of stairs, he stopped at the top and waved his arm to the right. As soon as he did, several floating swords, spears, axes, and firearms appeared around him. The floating weapons began spinning around him until he reached out and grabbed a falchion with an engine fashioned at the hilt. As soon as he pulled the sword back, an revving sound was heard as the young mans eyes suddenly started to glow red.

* * *

AN: Yep, I decided to being Versus XIII into the fray. Since we don't know a lot about it still, what happens in here involving Versus XIII will just be stuff I make up.

Again, Merry Christmas everyone.

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	12. Misunderstanding

Yeah I know late update, but school's really been keeping me busy.

Answers to peoples questions.

1: Essentially yes Rubi was the central character in that small skirmish, and yes I did do a dream sequence for Cloud. It was in chapter seven.

2: I will make as many chapters as I feel I have to, but of course not too many. Also right now I haven't made Cloud and Lightning interact enough for there to be any romance, but now I'll start doing things to make them become closer.

Now let's get on with the chapter.

* * *

Noctis charged at the soldiers with his falchion in hand. The soldiers continued firing shots from the assault rifles at him, but the flying weapons surrounding Noctis shielded him from the shower of bullets. Noctis stabbed the falchion into a soldiers chest before grabbing an axe and throwing it into another soldiers chest. He then jumped and planted one foot on a soldiers arms. Noctis used the soldiers arms as a springboard and jumped over him. While in the air, he saw another soldier behind the one he had just jumped over. Noctis quickly grabbed a lance floating near him and stabbed the weapon right into the soldiers chest, pinning him to the ground.

While swinging around on the upright lance, Noctis grabbed a floating machine gun and fired rapid rounds at the surrounding soldiers, killing all the ones the bullets hit. He dismissed the lance and machine gun as he flew over towards a soldier. Noctis caught the soldier by surprise, and with a quick movement, snapped the soldier's neck with his legs. He quickly waved his arm and the floating weapons began appearing in front of the soldiers. The weapons were causing the bullets from the soldiers guns to ricochet back and strike the soldiers.

Noctis turned to see a soldier about to point his gun at him. He grabbed a double bladed sword and moved quickly to catch the soldier off guard. He shoved the front blade under the soldier's right arm and pushed the soldier's arm back, causing the soldier's arm to break. The immense pain the soldier was in caused him to squeeze the trigger on his gun. Noctis used this to his advantage and directed the soldier's arm so that the shots from the soldier's gun would kill some of the other surrounding soldiers.

Soldiers out of the line of fire began shooting at Noctis. He could sense it and dismissed his weapons before jumping out of the way of the incoming bullets. The bullets instead killed the lone soldier Noctis injured. Noctis landed at the top of the first flight of stairs in front of the building. He turned his head and looked up to see more soldiers scaling down the building on ropes. Noctis turned and his hair suddenly flashed white as he teleported to the top of the second flight of stairs.

The soldiers on the ground charged towards Noctis, and when they were about to reach him, four invisible floating blades in front of them flipped up at a high speed, and slashed the soldiers in front. The force made them crash into the soldiers behind them and send them all tumbling down the stairs. The four invisible blades disappeared as Noctis teleported again. This time it was next to the walls of the building. He stabbed a sword into the side of the building before teleporting again upwards and slashing a descending soldier.

Noctis dismissed his sword as he teleported back to the other one. He grabbed it and threw it to the other side. The blade stabbed into the wall as Noctis teleported over and pulled it out. He flew down and cut down one of the soldiers before teleporting up and flying down towards another soldier, and ramming his sword through the soldier's chest. Noctis ripped the sword out of the soldier and he flew down to the ground. He looked to see there were not too many soldiers left. Deciding to end the fight, Noctis summoned his falchion to his hand. He threw the sword very high into the air.

After reaching the highest height it could, the falchion came flying down towards the soldiers with its tip facing them. When it was halfway to the ground, a large number of spears, and axes appeared behind it and were also flying towards the soldiers at the same speed. An onslaught ensued as the remaining soldiers were instantly massacred by the rain of blades. When the blades stopped falling, there on the ground lay the dead bodies of the remaining soldiers. When it all seemed like it was over, one somehow barely alive soldier reached over to a rocket launcher that lay next to him.

With his last bit of strength, the soldier grabbed the rocket launcher and fired a rocket at Noctis, before succumbing to his injuries and dying. Noctis turned to see the rocket flying towards him. There was an explosion as soon as the rocket made contact, but after the smoke cleared, it revealed Noctis had shielded himself by using his weapons to form a protective wall. The weapons spun around the boy to clear the remaining smoke around him before he dismissed them. The party looked at the massacre in absolute shock. To think that one boy wielded so much power was nerve wracking.

"_Who is this guy_?" was the question that went through everyones head as they stared at Noctis. Then before they knew it, he had disappeared again.

"Hey, where'd he go?" Rinoa wondered.

"Who are you?" a voice from behind said. Everyone turned to see Noctis standing behind them on the building roof. "Who are you and why are you here?"

Everyone was shocked that the boy knew they were up here and that he teleported there so quickly. "We require something that is here." the cloaked man answered.

"What would that be?" Noctis asked.

"The black crystal."

"Then I have to get rid of you." Noctis said in response. He waved his hand and summoned his floating weapons. He raised his arm towards the party and the floating weapons flew towards them. They all jumped out of the way as the weapons stabbed into the spot where they were just standing. Cloud looked up to see Noctis suddenly teleport in front of him with his falchion in hand. Cloud quickly brought up the Fusion Sword to block as Noctis swung with his falchion.

While Cloud was able to block, the force of the strike sent Cloud flying towards the ground below. Cloud slammed into the ground hard which formed a small crater. He groaned as he got up while recovering from the impact. Cloud quickly looked up to see Noctis come flying down towards him with his falchion, ready for another attack. Cloud swung the Fusion Sword up as Noctis brought his falchion down. The Fusion Sword deflected Noctis' attack and sent him flying back.

Noctis did a backflip in the air and landed on his feet. Cloud jumped high into the air and brought the Fusion Sword down towards him. Noctis simply sidestepped out of the way as the Fusion Sword's blade slammed into the spot where he was standing. Noctis quickly charged a Fira spell in his left hand and launched it at Cloud, nailing him in the chest and sending him to the ground. Noctis charged another Fira spell and aimed it at Cloud. He launched the spell, and right when it was about to hit Cloud, Lightning flew down from above and sliced the spell in two with Blaze Edge.

Cloud sat up after recovering from the hit to see Lightning just saved him. "Thanks." Cloud thanked her as he stood up.

"Get ready." Lightning replied as she got in her battle stance and the others came down. Cloud and the others also got into their battle stances, ready for what Noctis would throw at them next. He summoned a spear to his hand and threw the weapon straight for the party. Cloud ran forward and swung the Fusion Sword, smacking the spear away. Cloud quickly used Blade Beam and launched a blue blast of energy at Noctis. Noctis jumped high over the blast, only to see Squall had jumped up after him.

Squall brought Revolver down on Noctis, who blocked it with his falchion. Noctis quickly looked down to see Rinoa launched her Silenced Tear at him. Noctis called several weapons which formed a shield in front of him to block the Silenced Tear. When it made contact with the weapon shield, the Holy magic charged blaster edge let out an explosion that blew the weapons away. The explosion distracted Noctis, which allowed Squall to take advantage of the Noctis' distraction. Squall pushed with all his strength and the force of his swing sent Noctis crashing into the ground.

As Noctis got up, Lightning ran towards him and swung Blaze Edge. Noctis quickly jumped out of the way, only for Cloud to appear above him and come down with the Fusion Sword. Noctis teleported out of the way of Cloud's swing, and reappeared behind him. Noctis swung down his falchion, only to have it be blocked by Rinoa's Vanishing Star. Rinoa pushed Noctis off and fired a Blizzaga spell at him. He sliced the spell in half with ease and launched several spears at her.

Their speed was too great and Rinoa wouldn't have enough time to dodge, or counter. Squall quickly appeared in front of her and used Blasting Zone. Squall swung down and the pillar of energy emanating from his gunblade deflected the spears. "Are you okay?" Squall asked.

"Yeah." Rinoa replied.

Squall turned and flew towards Noctis. He fired one of the gunblade's rounds as he swung Revolver towards Noctis. Noctis swung up his falchion, only to have it knocked out of his hands from the force of the Revolver's swing, powered up by its fired shot. Noctis quickly slammed his fist into the ground and used a Quake spell. The spell caused the ground around Squall to shake violently before pieces of ground would fly up. The flying pieces of earth knocked Squall high into the air.

After the spell ended, Noctis picked up his falchion as Squall came flying back down and slammed into the ground. Notcis raised his falchion up over Squall, when suddenly Cloud came in front the side with a wide swing from the Fusion sword. Noctis ducked under the swing and launched an Aeroga spell at Cloud. The strong wind blew Cloud back. This distraction gave Squall enough time to recover and stab Revolver towards Noctis. Noctis leaped back as Squall stood up. Rinoa and Lightning both came down with their swords. Noctis threw several swords at the girls.

They both dodged the swords and continued flying towards Noctis. They swung their swords down, only for Noctis to jump back out of the way. Lightning quickly charged and brought Blaze Edge down. Nocis responded by swinging his falchion up. As soon as the edges of the blades made hard contact, Lightning and Noctis both felt an extreme pain shoot through their bodies. The two dropped their swords as the pain grew even more intense. Lightning fell onto her side as the boy fell to his knee. The two grasped their stomachs as they could sense that was where the pain was coming from.

Cloud quickly ran over and held Lightning up. "Light, what's wrong?!"

Lightning could only groan in pain, not having the strength to answer. The others quickly ran over to see what was wrong. "What's happening?!" Squall asked.

"I don't know." Cloud replied. Cloud suddenly gasped as he laid his eyes on her stomach. In the middle of Lightning's stomach was a glowing white light. "What's that?"

Cloud curiously placed his hand over the light, but as soon as he did, the light began to glow even brighter and Lightning began screaming in pain. Cloud quickly removed his hand to lessen the pain Lightning was going through. "What should we do?" Rinoa worried. The cloaked man suddenly appeared next to Lightning and placed his hand over her stomach. A green glow shined from his hand and the glow from inside Lightning's stomach faded away and Lightning was now unconscious.

The cloaked man turned his attention to Noctis, who was also going through intense pain. A black light could be seen glowing in his stomach, just like Lightning. The cloaked man placed his hand over the Noctis' stomach and the same green glow shined on his hand. The black light faded and Noctis fell down unconscious. "What just happened?!" Cloud demanded.

"I'm not sure myself, but we'd better take these two back to the ship before someone else shows up." the cloaked man suggested. Nodding in agreement, Cloud lifted up and carried Lightning bridal style as Squall lifted up Noctis and carried him piggyback style. Everyone quickly flew back headed back towards the ship.

* * *

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_Your support is very appreciated_


	13. The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Lightning opened her eyes to see she was in the same world of light as she was during her dream. Lightning sat up and looked around to see nothing was different from before. She quickly looked at her back to see the white feathered wing was there again on her upper right back. Lightning looked up as a feather floated down in front of her face. She saw the woman who looked almost exactly like her from her dream floating down in front of her. "_Hello Lightning._" the woman greeted after landing and folding her wings.

"_Who are you?_" Lightning asked.

"_You'll find out eventually_." the woman replied as she kneeled in front of Lightning. She extended out her hand to Lightning the same as she did before. This time without hesitation, Lightning took the woman's hand. The woman pulled Lightning forward and brought her into a hug, much to Lightning's surprise. Even though the person was a complete stranger to Lightning, the hug felt like it was right to her. Lightning couldn't help but feel a familiar feeling from the woman, as though the two were connected somehow.

"_I'm sorry Lightning_. _Right now I don't have the strength to protect you and Serah._" the woman said as she began crying.

"_Wait, how do you know Serah?!_" Lightning asked. The woman released Lightning from her hug.

"_Keep her safe and be a good girl_." the woman said as Lightning watched her cry for unknown reasons. A bright light shined from the woman's body which transported Lightning back to reality.

* * *

Lightning gasped as she awoke with a jolt. She quickly calmed herself as she could tell she was in the resting room of the Shera. Lightning lightly gasped as she felt something warm by her right hand. Lightning looked over to see Cloud asleep while leaning on the side of her bed with his face next to her hand. Lightning smiled as she felt joyful that Cloud never left her side during her time of pain. She reached her hand up and gently placed it on Cloud's cheek as she watched him sleep.

"Mom, don't go." Cloud said in his sleep which surprised Lightning. A single tear slowly rolled down Cloud's cheek as he slept. Lightning reached up with her thumb and gently wiped away the tear from Cloud's cheek. This gesture made Cloud open his eyes to see a smiling Lightning with her hand on his cheek.

"Are you okay?" Lightning asked.

"Uh, yeah." Cloud answered with a hint of blush on his face. Lighting removed her hand from his cheek and sat up.

"I'm the one who should be asking you if you're okay." Cloud said as Lightning sat up.

"Don't worry I'm fine." Lightning replied. "What happened?"

"I don't know. There was a white light glowing in your stomach and it was hurting you a lot. You gave all of us quite a scare." Cloud answered.

"Sorry about that." Lightning apologized.

"Don't worry about it. The important thing is that you're alright now." Cloud replied. Lightning then remembered the mysterious boy they were fighting.

"Hey, what happened to the guy we were fighting?" Lightning asked.

"He's resting over there." Cloud pointed to the bed across from Lightning's. As Cloud said, there lay Noctis, who had they fought just a little while ago.

"So how long have we been out?" Lightning asked.

"Almost two hours." Cloud answered.

"So what are we going to do with him when he wakes up?" Lightning asked.

"Well first we'll ask him a few questions. How he answers will decide if we'll let him go or not." Cloud answered.

"I see." Lightning said before she yawned.

"Are you still tired?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah, a little." Lightning answered as she rubbed her eye.

"You can go back to sleep then. I'll be right here if you need anything." Cloud said.

"Thank you Cloud." Lightning replied as she laid down and was back to sleep in seconds. As she slept, Cloud looked back at Rubi who was sleeping a couple beds away, still recovering from her stab wound.

"_This just keeps getting weirder and weirder._" Cloud thought as he watched the three sleep.

* * *

An hour later, Lightning awoke from her sleep to see Cloud sitting on the side of her bed. He was groaning in pain and he was tightly gripping his left arm with his right hand. Lightning sat up and placed her hand on Cloud's shoulder to get his attention. "Is it the stigma?" Lightning asked.

"Yeah." Cloud grunted as he continued holding his arm very tight. Lightning gently placed her hand over Cloud's left arm, but as soon as she did, the pain suddenly went away. Cloud released his arm, as did Lightning.

"It must hurt a lot." Lightning said.

"Yeah, but Denzel's is worse than mine." Cloud said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find a cure somehow." Lightning replied.

"I hope you're right." Cloud said. The two could hear groaning coming from their left. The two looked the right to see Noctis was waking up. As if on cue, the cloaked man teleported into the room just as Noctis opened his eyes. He groaned as he sat up and fully opened his eyes. He gasped when he saw Cloud, Lightning, and the cloaked man. He brought his arm up and was about to summon one of his weapons, but the cloaked man stopped him by raising both of his hands up.

"Take it easy. If we wanted to kill you you'd be dead already." the cloaked man said. Seeing he was right and that they had no intention to fight, Noctis lowered his arm.

"Who are you guys?" Noctis asked.

"Putting it simply, we're the good guys." the cloaked man answered.

"So, who are you?" Lightning asked as she got off her bed.

"My full name is Noctis Lucis Caelum, but I'd prefer if you'd call me Noct, or Noctis. Either one's fine with me." Noctis answered. "Why are you guys after the black crystal?"

"We need it if we're going to stop the resurrection of Astroth, the god of war and destruction. If his servants, the Acolytes, get a hold of the black crystal, as well as the other items needed, there is nothing anyone can do to stop him. He'll rule over this universe as he tried to do three thousand years ago." the cloaked man said.

"But Balthazar stopped him right?" Noctis asked.

"You know about Balthazar?" the cloaked man asked,

"I know the whole story. It's one of the legends we have around here. I wanted to see if you did to. That's how I knew if I could trust you guys or not." Noctis answered.

"Do you trust us?" Cloud asked.

"Yes I do." Noctis answered.

"Then will you help us get the black crystal?" the cloaked man asked.

"To tell you the truth, I couldn't even if I said yes. Even though I have to guard it, I was never told where it was." Noctis answered.

"Well that's pretty stupid." Lightning said.

"Tell me about it." Noctis agreed.

"Well if the legend's true, it should be somewhere on the planet right?" Cloud asked.

"Most likely. I'm sure we'll end up finding it eventually." the cloaked man assured.

"Well, sorry for the misunderstanding back there. Let me make it up to you guys." Noctis said.

"What did you have in mind?" Cloud asked, curious.

"You and everyone else come back to my building tomorrow at seven thirty PM. You'll see." Noctis answered.

"Alright. Cloud, you and everyone else can go. I'll stay here instead. I've got some things to take care of." the cloaked man said.

"It's your call." Cloud replied.

"I should be heading back now. I don't want people to think I've gone missing." Noctis said.

"Sure thing." Cloud replied. He escorted Noctis out of the ship and Noctis walked off towards the building. As Cloud walked back inside the ship, he couldn't help but feel that the dark power emanating from the black light inside Noctis seemed familiar to him somehow. This power however wasn't Sephiroth's. It was something much darker. Cloud returned inside the ship, deciding thinking about it wouldn't do him any good. Though Cloud was curious to know how Noctis was going to make up for the misunderstanding.

* * *

_The Next Day: 7:30 PM_

When seven thirty came, Cloud and the others returned to the building where they met Noctis. Cloud was surprised that the place was completely restored to normal, and all the dead bodies were gone, especially the blood stains. "_This guy must have money to spare._" Cloud thought as he and the party entered the building. Everyone looked around in shock as the inside of the building looked very bright and decorated. "Holy cow! This guy must be totally rich!" Zell exclaimed as he looked around at the decorated insides of the building.

Cloud and the party met up with Noctis in front of the large flight of stairs. Instead of the clothes he was wearing earlier, Noctis was wearing fancy black dress clothes. "Well we're here." Cloud acknowledged.

"Glad you could make it." Noctis greeted.

"So are we like going somewhere, or something?" Yuffie curiously asked.

"Yeah, but I can't have you guys going dressed like that." Noctis commented.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Rikku asked.

"Let me take care of that." Noctis said as he snapped with his right hand. Suddenly out of nowhere, several extremely tall and massively built guards appeared and picked up everyone with their arms.

"Hey, what's the deal?!" Tidus demanded.

"Don't worry about it. They'll just make sure you guys wear something more appropriate for where we're going." Noctis answered before the guards carried everyone off. The guys were taken to one room while the girls were taken to another. After waiting for about thirty minutes, the party came out of the rooms now wearing more appropriate clothes. The guys were wearing the same dress clothes Noctis was wearing, and the girls were all wearing fancy dresses.

"Let's go." Noctis motioned for everyone to follow him which they did. When they got outside, there was a large black limo parked out front. Everyone walked towards and got into the limo and it drove off to wherever it was taking them.

"Hey Squall, isn't this fun?" Rinoa asked.

"Whatever." Squall replied which made Rinoa giggle since that was his usual attitude in these kinds of situations. As the car rode on, Squall suddenly felt very light headed. Everything started to become blurry and sounded muffled to him. His sight was soon overtaken by darkness and he lost consciousness.

* * *

When Squall opened his eyes, he saw he was in a majestic looking city. The buildings were white and all kinds of plants were growing around. Squall looked at himself to see he was wearing his normal clothes again, but for some unknown reason, there was a black feathered wing coming from his upper right back. "_Okay, this is weird._" Squall thought as he looked around. There were what appeared to be angels flying, or walking around everywhere. Squall was confused, when suddenly he sensed a strong presence in front of him. He looked to see a girl lying on the ground in front of him.

Her clothing consisted of a red pleated skirt with black lace and a white sleeveless dress shirt, with a semi-transparent sweeper in the same style of shirt over it, with thigh-highs, and boots. She had pink hair which looked very similar to Lightning's hair, except hers was a little darker and in a different style. Squall also noticed she also had a white feathered wing coming from her upper right back like his. Squall quickly ran over and held the girl up to see if she was okay.

The girl groaned as she opened her eyes to see Squall holding her up. "_You okay?_" Squall asked.

"_Y-Yeah._" the girl answered as she sat up and Squall let go of her. "_Where are we?_"

"_You got me._" Squall answered. Squall stood up and offered her his hand. She took it and he pulled her up.

"_Thank you, uh..._"

"_Squall. Squall Leonhart._" he answered.

"_Thank you Squall._" the girl said.

"_What's your name?_" Squall asked.

"_Serah. Serah Farron._" she answered.

"_Well Serah, let's see if we can find a way out of wherever this place is._" Squall suggested.

"_Sure Squall._" Serah agreed and the two walked off to find an exit from the mysterious city.

* * *

_Read & Review_

_Your support is very appreciated_

Well Final Fantasy XIII is coming out next Tuesday so hopefully that'll increase the update rate. We'll see.


	14. Let's Have a Dance!

Answers to review questions.

Hakurama: For what the light inside Lightning's stomach is, and why it made her scream in pain, you'll have to wait for a while before I reveal that, but I will say this. That light is one of the key elements in the story. The light could be a good or bad thing, but it depends on people's views of it. In a way Lightning is light and Noctis is dark, but they won't be fighting each other if that's what you're asking. The main bad guy will be revealed after the events of FFXIII go by. When will Cloud and Light kiss? The answer is... much sooner than I originally planned. That whole thing about the woman looking almost exactly like Light will be explained much later. How long is this story until the end? You'll have to wait and see.

gagboy: The identity of the mysterious woman and her connection to Light and Serah will be revealed later. Don't wanna spoil anything.

* * *

Squall and Serah continued walking through the mysterious city that looked like it would be Heaven. "_So Serah, how did you get here?_" Squall asked.

"_I don't really know. One moment I lost consciousness, and when I woke up, I was here when you found me. Is it the same for you Squall?_"

"_Yeah. Everything just went black and then I found myself here._" Squall answered.

"_So, why do we have a wing on our backs?_" Serah asked as she looked back at her wing.

"_Dunno. This is the first time anything like this has happened to me._" Squall replied as he also stared at his wing. Suddenly, the entire area began shaking violently as if an earthquake began. All the angel looking people looked around in fear as they had no idea what was going on.

"_What's happening?!_" Serah said had a hard time keeping her balance. She held onto Squall's arm to keep her balance since he was easily keeping his. Squall sensed a dark presence and looked into the sky to see a dark cloud hanging over the city. What appeared to be hundreds of dark creatures manifested from the cloud and descended onto the city. The people screamed and flew away as the dark creatures began attacking the city.

They fired dark energy blasts from their mouths which blew away chunks of building they hit. A few buildings came toppling over, rattling the ground even more. Fires spread along the plants which began to engulf the city. "_Let's go!_" Squall grabbed Serah's arm and dragged her with him as he dashed off in the opposite direction the creatures were coming from. Suddenly, a large dark creature landed in front of him and Serah.

"_Damn!_" Squall said as he reached to grab Revolver, but felt it wasn't there. Squall then tried to grab Lion Heart, only to see it was gone as well.

"_You've gotta be kidding me!_" Squall mentally shouted as he and Serah had no way to defend themselves. The creature charged up and launched a large dark blast towards the two. Squall and Serah braced themselves for the impact, but as soon as the blast would've hit them, it instead phased tight through them, as if they were ghosts. The blast collided with a tall building and obliterated it completely. Squall and Serah looked at themselves in confusion.

"_What just happened?_" Serah asked as she examined her body, trying to figure out why the blast went through her.

"_It's like we don't exist._" Squall replied. Then suddenly, the entire city and everything around it became shrouded in a cloak of darkness.

"_What the?!_" Squall looked around in confusion of the sudden darkness that fell over. Squall turned around, only to see Serah had disappeared.

"_Serah! Where are you?! Can you hear me?! Serah!_" Squall shouted in the darkness. There was no reply, no answer. Nothing. A bright light shined through the darkness which caused Squall to cover his eyes with his arm because of the light's intensity.

"_You'll be reunited._" a voice said from the light. Squall felt his entire being be swallowed up by the light.

* * *

Serah opened her eyes to find herself on her bed like she was before she lost consciousness and met Squall in that weird world. "_What's going on? What's happening to me?_" Serah thought as she placed her hand on her head.

"_It's alright Serah._" a female voice said to her. Serah gasped as she looked around the room to find the source of the voice, only to see no one was there.

"Who are you?" Serah asked the voice if it was still there.

"_In the future, you'll know. Both you and Lightning._" the voice said.

"Wait, how do you know my sister?!" Serah asked in shock. The voice didn't respond.

"Okay, that was weird. I think I'll go see Snow now." Serah said as she hopped out of bed and ran out of the house to Snow's.

* * *

Squall opened his eyes to see the car was still driving through the city. He shook his head a bit to completely regain his senses. "_What the hell was that just now?_" Squall thought in confusion.

"Hey Squall, is something wrong?" Rinoa asked him.

"It's nothing." Squall dismissed. Rinoa decided to let it go because Squall had a face on that told her not to talk about what ever was bugging him anymore. Soon, the car reached the building and everyone stepped outside. The car drove away as soon as everyone was out. Noctis motioned for everyone to follow him up the steps , which of course they did. As they walked up the steps behind the others, Cloud continued to wonder about the mysterious white light he saw inside of Lightning. He turned his head back and glanced towards Lightning's stomach.

"Something wrong Cloud?" Lightning asked, bringing Cloud's attention to her face.

"No, it's nothing." Cloud answered as her turned his head away. Lightning could tell from his face that he was concerned for what happened to her before. That strange white light inside her.

"It's alright Cloud, you don't have to worry about it. I'll be fine. I have you by my side after all." Lightning said. Lightning's words gave Cloud hope that they were true.

"_I'm gonna protect you. I swear on my life I will. I won't lose anyone else I hold dear._" Cloud thought with confidence as he and Lightning continued walking with the others. Noctis told the guards at the doors that the party was with him so they could get in. Once everyone was inside the building, they were all left with amazement in their eyes. The inside of the building was very large with many floors and a large cylinder fish tank that went to the top. The building was full of people, who all looked like rich business type people, or simply rich people. Noctis turned to the party.

"You guys can enjoy yourselves for the rest of the time we're here, and please don't do anything stupid or embarrassing." Noctis said before walking off.

"Well, I'm hittin' the bar." Cid said as he and Barret went off to the bar. Zell was of course chowing down on the fancy food, while Irvine was trying to find a cute girl to make a move on, and everyone else was walking around the place to check it out. Cloud was walking around on one of the upper floors while checking out the downstairs view.

"_Whoa. Even Midgar didn't have places like this._" Cloud thought as he admired the view.

"Excuse me." a voice said behind him. Cloud turned to see who the voice belonged to. He saw it was a beautiful young lady about the same age as Noctis. She had blonde hair that was about half way to the middle of her back and was wearing a beautiful white dress that went a little passed her knees.

"Yes?" Cloud asked back.

"Are by any chance Cloud Strife?" Stella asked.

"Yes I am." Cloud answered. "How do you know my name?"

"Where I come from there are stories about you and how you saved the world from Meteor." Stella answered.

"Oh. So what's your name?" Cloud asked.

"Stella Nox Fleuret, but just call me Stella." she answered.

"So how did a great man like you get into this place?" Stella asked.

"I got invited." Cloud answered.

"Wow this is amazing. I never thought I'd get to meet you in person. You know you're cuter than I thought you'd be." Stella said in a flirtatious tone as she slightly leaned towards Cloud. Cloud was now feeling very uncomfortable.

"You wanna take a walk around with me?" Stella asked again in a flirtatious tone.

"Thanks for the offer, but I've gotta be somewhere now." Cloud lied.

"I understand. See you later Cloud." Stella said before walking off.

"_That was weird._" Cloud thought as he walked off in the opposite direction. Unknown to Cloud, Lightning could see the whole scene from another floor. She had felt immense jealousy build up in her when she saw the girl was acting flirty to Cloud. She also felt glad when she saw that Cloud seemed uninterested in the girl and lied to get out of the situation. Lightning couldn't help but wonder why she had felt the way she just did.

"_Why? Why am I so jealous at that girl? Why am I glad he's not interested in her? Is it be because... I like Cloud?_" Lightning wondered. At this point, she wasn't surprised if she really did like Cloud. He's a strong and caring person who would fight to protect those he holds dear to him and not give up hope. Well okay maybe for that hope part not so much when she first met him, but with help from his friends he regained hope. As Lightning walked away, she began wondering if Cloud feels the same way she does.

* * *

Some time later, Noctis was walking up the stairs to the next floor. While walking up, he could see a mysterious light shining from the next floor. When he reached the top of the next floor, he could see a girl with blonde hair in a white dress standing in front of a large portrait of the goddess Etro. Noctis continued walking as he watched the girl stand in front of the portrait. The girl turned her head towards him and smiled at him as he walked. The girl turned her head back towards the portrait as Noctis stopped walking a few meters away from her.

There was a small moment of silence before Stella broke the silence. "Prince Noctis. You can see the light, right?" Stella asked as she turned to him. Noctis walked towards her but stopped as she turned and they both looked up through the window into the night sky. Stella quickly turned and walked towards Noctis who turned and walked the other way too.

"Was that what you were looking at from downstairs?" Stella asked.

"Pretty much. When did you start seeing it?" Noctis replied.

"When I was a child." she answered.

"Near death experience?" Noctis asked.

"Yes. And you?" Stella replied.

"It was pretty horrible." Noctis answered as he sighed at remembering such awful memories.

"The Goddess Etro shall open the gate welcoming the the souls of the dead. When that happens, a bright light shall shine down through the skies from the land of the dead. That is the legend. It's a Tenebrae legend." Stella said.

"We've got the same legend here." Noctis replied.

"Did the light give you power?" Stella asked.

"No. I don't need anything like that. I'm fine how I am." Noctis answered.

"I know, right? No matter what kind of power it is, if it's at the cost of somebody's life... It would give me nightmares." Stella said with a bit of sadness and fear.

"Same. It's a ridiculous bedtime story." Noctis said as he stopped walking and sat down on a nearby bench. "You shouldn't talk to other people about the light."

"How come?" Stella asked, confused at what Noctis meant.

"Being different from others can cause a lot of trouble. Don't you think?" he answered.

But if it's just a bedtime story, what do you think the light really is?" Stella asked.

"It's just something that's there. Isn't that good enough? Um..."

"Stella." she said.

"Stella... I should be going."

"Thank you for your time, Prince Noctis."

"Just Noct, or Noctis is fine." he said.

"I have to go too. I feel like I've received something from the light tonight." Stella said as she walked a bit away from Noctis before turning back around. "I got a chance to speak with you."

"Well now you'll have nightmares." Noctis replied.

"You're mean one aren't you, Prince Noctis." Stella replied happily.

"Noctis or Noct." he reminded her with a smile.

"I'll call you Noctis the next time we meet." Stella said. You should come to Tenebrae some time. I'll show you around."

"That sounds interesting. I'll think about it." Nocris replied. Stella bid farewell to Noctis before walking off. As she walked off, Noctis turned to the window and looked up at the sky.

"...Who are you?" a mysterious voice asked him.

"I was about to ask the same thing." Noctis answered before walking away.

_

* * *

An hour later at 10:30 PM:_

The party got more exciting as music began playing on the main floor and a large number of couples were dancing to it. As the Yuffie and Selphie watched the couples dance, Yuffie suddenly got a sneaky idea in her head. "Hey Selphie, I just got a wicked idea." Yuffie said with a mischievous grin.

"What'd you have in mind?" Selphie responded, also with a mischievous grin. Yuffie whispered her idea into Selhpie's ear. Selphie squealed with delight at Yuffie's plan.

"Let's do it." Selphie said before the two girls ran off to put Yuffie's plan to action. When she found him, Yuffie ran over to Cloud. "Hey Cloud!" she called.

"Yeah?" Cloud asked as he turned to Yuffie.

"Come with me!" Yuffie said as she grabbed Cloud's hand and dragged him along with her.

"Hey wait! What's this about?!" Cloud shouted as he stumbled a bit from being dragged around by Yuffie.

"Selphie wait! What's going on?!" Lightning shouted as Selphie was dragging her along.

"You'll see." Selphie replied. Yuffie brought Cloud all the way to the first floor, and when she saw Selphie dragging Lightning with her, she quickly rushed over. They maneuvered through the large number of couples, and when they reached the center of the room which was clear, Yuffie and Selphie pushed Lightning and Cloud into each other. Cloud stumbled a bit back as Lightning ran into him, but managed to regain his balance and stop Lightning and himself from falling. The two blushed as Lightning's hands were on Cloud's chest, Cloud's arms were around Lightning, and their bodies were touching.

"You can thank us later." Yuffie said to Cloud's before she and Selphie skipped of with joy like they were little girls. Cloud turned and faced Lightning who returned the glance. Cloud unwrapped his arms so Lightning could take her hands off his chest. There was a small moment of silence between the two before Cloud broke it.

"You wanna dance?" Cloud offered his hand to her. There were so many thoughts racing through Lightning's head when she head those words come from Cloud. This was the first time in her life someone gave her this opportunity.

"Sure." Lightning answered as she took Cloud's hand. Throughout the time of the music playing on the main floor, Cloud and Lightning, as well as the other couples performed several ballroom dances. The Waltz, the Foxtrot, the Viennese, the Quickstep, and others.

* * *

(**A/N: In case you don't know any of these dances, just go on YouTube and look up videos of these dances, and while you watch them, just imagine Cloud and Lightning are the ones dancing. Copy and Paste the underlined video names below.**

** For the Waltz, I suggest looking up:**** Gethin Dances the Waltz - Strictly Come Dancing - BBC One **

**For the Viennese I suggest looking up: Jonathan Wilkins & Katusha Demidova - Viennese Waltz Show**

**For the Foxtrot and Quickstep, just find whatever you can.**

**

* * *

**While Cloud and Lightning were dancing the Viennese, Cloud's eyes couldn't help but admire Lightning from top to bottom. She looked stunning in hr golden dress that reached a bit below her knees. Lightning couldn't help but do the same for Cloud as they danced. The dress clothes looked very nice on Cloud, and made him look less like a fighter. They both thought their attires made each other look like normal people. As the dance continued, Cloud noticed in the crowd of couples that Squall was dancing with Rinoa. Cloud could see Squall had that 'I hate this so much' look on his face. "_She must've used the puppy dog eyes on him._" Cloud thought as he continued dancing with Lightning. The strange thing was, he also noticed Noctis was dancing with that girl Stella he'd met earlier.

"I never imagined I would get to dance with you Noctis." Stella said.

"To tell you the truth, I didn't have anything better to do." Noctis replied. "This place was more boring than I thought it would be."

"Is this making it less boring?" Stella asked as she continued dancing gracefully.

"Oh yeah." Noctis answered with a smile.

"So I wanna know Noctis. Knowing who you are, you could get a dance with probably any girl here. So why did you choose me?" Stella asked.

"To tell you the truth, you're the only girl in here I'd feel like dancing with." Noctis answered.

"I feel honored to hear you say that. Thank you Noctis." Stella said.

"You're welcome." Noctis replied.

"I bet you said that because you like me." Stella teased.

"W-Wait wha-?!" Noctis almost tripped thought he was able to catch himself luckily. Stella looked to see blush on Noctis' face which made her giggle.

"I didn't know you were the extremely shy type." she said.

"W-W-Well s-sorta." Noctis replied, still with blush on his face.

"It's okay, I was just joking." Stella giggled as Noctis quickly tried to regain his composure.

As the music continued playing, Cloud and Lightning felt like they were in heaven with each other. The moment felt so right and the two just didn't want it to ever end. Too bad it had too. The music ended as soon as all the couples ended the Waltz a second time. All the males were to bow down on one knee, and kiss the females hand. As soon as Cloud's lips touched Lightning's hand, Lightning felt like electricity was zapping throughout her whole body. In a good way though. Not surprisingly, the same thing was happening to Cloud. He remembered during his time in AVALANCHE when they were at the Golden Saucer, he had kissed Tifa's hand when they were forced to act in a play.

That time Cloud felt somewhat shocked, but this time it felt like a lightning storm was raging in him. Again in a good way. As with Squall and Rinoa, Rinoa just giggled as Squall kissed her hand while feeling his uneasiness. This was because this kind of stuff wasn't his style. If he was gonna kiss Rinoa, he'd do it somewhere private, in his normal clothes, and on the lips. This was totally against how he would do things. When Noctis kissed Stella's hand... well it was pretty much the same as it was for Cloud and Lightning. Huge shock throughout their bodies and whatnot.

As all the guys rose, Squall noticed Zell and Irvine on the outside part of the circle of couples, laughing at him for how he was feeling. The couples dispersed, and when no one was looking their way, Squall flicked off both of them. Rinoa saw this and slapped Squall's hand down. "Real mature!" Rinoa said with her hands on her hips.

"Whatever." Squall said as he turned and walked away.

"Hey, come back here mister!" Rinoa shouted as she ran after him.

"Thank you for the dance Noct." Stella kindly bowed.

"It was my pleasure." Noctis replied.

"I trust I'll see you again soon."

"Sure." Noctis answered.

"Farewell until then." Stella said before walking away. As she walked away, Noctis couldn't help but keep his eyes on her.

"Cheking her out?" Genesis appeared behind Noctis which startled him.

"I-I'm not checking her out!" Noctis replied with a slightly red face.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Genesis said before waking away.

Meanwhile Cloud and Lightning were walking around on the second floor.

"Hey Cloud, thanks for that." Lightning said.

"Sure. We should do it again some time." Cloud replied.

"I'd love that." Lightning said. The party ended afterwards and everybody went home. As the limo drove everyone back to Noctis' place, no one except Yuffie, Selphie, Squall, and Rinoa noticed Cloud and Lightning fell asleep with Lightning's head resting on Cloud's shoulder. Yuffie, and Selphie gave each other a high five, seeing as their plan had worked.

"I think someone's in love." Rinoa said to Squall while pointing at Cloud.

"You think so?" Squall wondered.

"I'm sure. My woman's intuition is never wrong." Rinoa answered.

"Whatever." Squall said back. Rinoa pouted and made a face as she turned away from Squall because of his attitude. Squall cracked a smile as he watched Rinoa look angry in a funny way.

"I'll take you out when we get a chance." Squall whispered.

"Thank you Squall." Rinoa instantly smiled and wrapped her arms around him though Squall quickly removed them.

"Not with everyone around." Squall said.

"Okay, later then." Rinoa agreed. "Hey look." she whispered.

Squall looked to see Cloud was moving his hand in his sleep. His hand rested itself on top of Lightning's and Lightning pressed herself closer to Cloud.

"Why can't you be more like Cloud?" Rinoa asked.

"Because it's just not me." Squall answered.

"Oh whatever." Rinoa said as she ended the conversation. She quickly did as Lightning did and rested her self against Squall's shoulder. Not wanting to upset her, Squall, let her have her way.

"_I still don't get her._" Squall thought as the limo rode on.

* * *

_Read & Review_

_Your support is very appreciated_


	15. Story Notice: Changes & Updates

**This is a notice to all readers of my story. As of now, I've decided to cut out all stuff from WET from the story, to keep it more original, and make it easier for me. Because of this, chapter 10 will be remade, and other chapters involving things from WET will be remade as well. I've also decided I'm going to cut out the characters from Final Fantasy X because I have a really hard time thinking of how to use them since I never played the game, and I think this will make the story much more easier for me to write.**

**I'm also thinking about going back and making some edits to the other chapters. **

**For everyone that's been begging for me to update, I'm really sorry for making you wait so long. I've been working on things for other stories, not to mention that high school's been a bitch, so I haven't really done any work on this. I've also been waiting for new things from Versus XIII. Since the new trailer came out, I've been thinking about getting back to work on this story. **

**This is only a temporary notice, and will be taken down once I'm ready to proceed with the story.**

**Once again, I'm really sorry for making you readers wait so long.**


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